Katekyo Hitman Reborn! 1. one

Disclaimer: KHReborn belongs to Akira Amano.

Pairings: slight RebornXLambo and 8027

WARNING: OOCness (especially on Tsuna's part) and slight AU

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Sawada Tsunayoshi, aged fifteen, yawned as the bell rang, signaling the start of class. There was chaos around him. There were boys tearing out hair in attempt to squeeze in some last-minute studying, girls promising to help each other out during the test if they knew the answers, and several hooligans in the back who just didn't care and were having a spitball competition. Tsuna was none of them. He had studied properly the night before and was confident there was nothing in the syllabus that he didn't understand. Too bad he needed to fail this paper.

Contrary to popular belief, No Good Tsuna wasn't actually all that no good. If he tried, he could give some of the smart kids a run for their money and all that clumsiness during gym class was all for show. It wasn't that Tsuna liked the name-calling and negative attention that came with acting useless. He had a reason to make everyone believe he was No Good.

It began three years ago when Timoteo stopped by his house during summer vacation. The old Italian man was Tsuna's grandfather figure growing up. It was no secret that Timoteo was the boss of a powerful mafia family in Italy and that Tsuna's father was sort of his right-hand man. But Tsuna never thought that he would be pulled into their world until Timoteo made that request.

_"You are a clever boy, Tsuna,"_ Timoteo had said. _"You are kind, understanding and loyal; so much like your father. That is why I think you would be suitable to lead the next generation of Vongola. The mafia world needs someone as compassionate as you to change them. Will you grant this old man's wish, Tsuna?"_

The answer had been a resounding no. Even when his father joined in to back up Timoteo, it was a no. Tsuna wanted nothing to do with their dark world. He didn't care if Timoteo would hate him for his decision but Tsuna was not changing his mind. Timoteo had other candidates, didn't he?

After that, Tsuna had cut off all ties with Timoteo. He was noticeably grieved by his choice - his appetite didn't come back until return and even sleep didn't come easy - and was even further surprised when he found out that Timoteo had not taken back his offer. That was when Tsuna began to give up at school. He still studied, but proceeded to fail exams and acted like he was bad at everything - all to convince his surrogate grandfather that he was unfit to lead to Vongola.

He thought he had achieved it when the moniker No Good Tsuna was given to him at school. But his father assured him that Timoteo was annoyingly faithful in Tsuna's abilities. "In my opinion, better you than Xanxus."

Tsuna couldn't bring himself to disagree with that one.

If he could, Tsuna would like to blame his father. For generations, the Sawada Family had remained ignorant of their illustrious ancestor, Ieyasu, who had been the founder and first boss of the Vongola, and had stayed clear of any mafia activity with relative ease. That was until Iemitsu, in his selfishness, offered his services to Vongola Nono. His capabilities, loyalty and integrity had ensured his escalation to become the head of the CEDEF as well as endeared him to Timoteo. Thus, making Tsuna's life that much more complicated.

"Pass the papers to the back."

Tsuna broke out of his reverie. He hadn't noticed the teacher coming in. Hadn't even noticed the chaos around him settling. He retrieved the papers from his classmate in front, took one, and passed it behind. He flipped to the first page and scanned the numbers. Equations and answers jumping out to him unbidden.

Math was actually his best subject. He was sure that if Nezu-sensei ever found out, he would have a heart attack.

"Before you start, have any of you seen Gokudera Hayato? He just transferred here and is supposed to join us today," said the gangly teacher.

As if on cue, the door slid open and a boy with silver hair walked in. Tsuna noted the multiple rings that decorated his hands and the metal skull buckle on his belt. Both were direct violations of the school dress code. Tsuna was a little surprised this boy made it through the Hibari without getting hurt. "Sorry," the boy called Gokudera muttered with a disagreeable expression on his face that showed he wasn't sorry at all. "It took a while to find this class."

Nezu-sensei practically twitched when he saw Gokudera's inappropriate attire but pushed his thin glassed further up his nose and refrained from lashing out since the exam was about to start. "Class, this is Gokudera Hayato," he said stiffly. "Starting today, he will be studying with us. Gokudera-kun just came from Italy so some Japanese customs might be foreign to him. Please give him due guidance."

"Italy? Wow!"

"Why did he move here?"

"Hey, he's pretty handsome, right?"

"Gokudera-kun, what are your hobbies?"

"Silence!" yelled Nezu-sensei. "Gokudera-kun, find a seat. We're about to have an exam."

The Italian boy shuffled towards the back of the class and to the only empty seat. Tsuna watched his progress, only turning away when Gokudera met his gaze and proceeded to glare daggers at him. After all these years, he hadn't expected Timoteo to take action now. But what did he hope to achieve by sending Smokin' Bomb Hayato here?

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**Saluta Morte de Parte Mia**

**2 August 2009**

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"Time's up! Everyone put your pencils down and pass your paper to the front."

Tsuna handed his paper to the person in front and sighed. All throughout the test, he felt the piercing gaze of the new transfer student on his back. To his knowledge, Smokin' Bomb Hayato had yet to pledge his allegiance to any mafia family after running away from home at the age of 10. So what was he doing here?

"Tsuna-kun?" Tsuna looked up and saw Sasagawa Kyoko smiling kindly at him. "Howas was the paper, Tsuna-kun?"

Sasagawa Kyoko was adorable, soft-spoken and acknowledged as the prettiest girl in Namimori Junior High. All the boys wanted a chance with her. Even some teachers (perverts like Nezu-sensei, thought Tsuna) were enamoured by her. Oddly enough, Tsuna was the only boy Kyoko ever approached. Maybe it's because she somehow knew that Tsuna's the only boy who had no intention of putting a hand up her skirt.

Tsuna returned her smile with some sheepishness. "It's no good. I don't think I can pass this one."

Kyoko frowned concernedly. "I hope you will. At least you tried your best, right?" she said consolingly.

_Actually, I didn't. _ Tsuna smiled nonetheless.

Everyone was getting up to discuss the paper and from the corner of his eye, Tsuna could see Gokudera approaching. What did he want? He wasn't going to talk about mafia stuff in front of a roomful of civilians, was he? But then again, the mafia was full of unbalanced types. Who's the say Gokudera wasn't one of them?

"Hello, Gokudera-kun," said Kyoko pleasantly when she saw Gokudera approaching and gasped loudly when Gokudera kicked the leg of Tsuna's table so roughly, the table rocked.

Tsuna eeped shrilly, just for show, as he scrambled to keep his things from falling over. "What was that for?" he demanded.

"I can't believe a pipsqueak like you is going to be the next Vongola boss," growled the Italian. "I don't accept it!"

Oh yes, he was unbalanced alright. Tsuna swallowed. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Gokudera scoffed and walked away, ignoring the attention his commotion had caused. Tsuna watched him leave with slight apprehension. If this was the attitude Gokudera was going to take with him, Tsuna needed to get rid of them before anyone found out about his mafia connections. He wondered if Lambo had any good ideas.

**X**

There were two other people, aside from Tsuna, who were related to the Italian mafia, who attended Namimori Middle School. One was Naito Longchamp, an excitable redhead, who was the 8th successor of the Tomaso family. Tsuna wouldn't go near him with a six-foot stick because frankly, he was an idiot. As were the bodyguards who followed him around constantly.

The other one was Lambo of the Bovino family. He was a hitman, like Gokudera, but used electrical attacks instead of explosives. He was a year above Tsuna and had a relatively large following of fangirls. Unfortunately, he was also a bit of an idiot and was the clumsiest person Tsuna ever had the fortune to meet.

The funniest thing about him, though, was the fact that he was hopelessly infatuated with Vongola's cruelest and most accomplished assassin, Reborn.

During break, Tsuna escaped to the rooftop, where Lambo liked to snack. Since Lambo had one foot in the mafia world, he knew all about Tsuna's situation as well as his faked uselessness. If Tsuna wanted any updates, Lambo was usually the guy he went to since anyone else would misinterpret his curiosity as a positive step towards him become the next Vongola boss.

Lambo was already on the rooftop when Tsuna arrived. He waved his fork in greeting, sending some stray strands of pasta flying. "Hello, young Vongola. Were my eyes deceiving me or was that Smokin' Bomb Hayato I saw prowling the corridors today?"

"Stop calling me that," scowled Tsuna as he took a seat next to Lambo and opened his lunch box. "And I'm surprised you didn't know about his arrival here. Not much goes on without you knowing about it."

Lambo shrugged. "Things have been quiet on the Vongola front. I suspect a ripple in the waters." Tsuna's eyes flitted towards him suspiciously. "No, no. I don't think it's the Varia," said Lambo quickly. "Not this time. No, it's something else."

"Still, I didn't expect Timoteo to actually send someone to have direct contact with me," admitted Tsuna. "I guess he is finally getting impatient."

"That, or he's dying."

Tsuna froze and glared at Lambo. "That's not funny."

"It wasn't supposed to be," replied the older boy. "Vongola Nono's illness is ailing him. And I'm not surprised. He is an old man. He would have to choose a successor soon or the Vongola will be torn in war after his death. You know, _you _are his favourite."

"He is a smart man. Even if he sees past my act, the rest of Vongola won't. They will not approve of him selecting a useless teen as his successor. He will have to choose someone else," said Tsuna. Admittedly, he was trying to convince himself as much as Lambo. He had not heard about his surrogate grandfather's illness. His heart clenched in guilt.

Lambo considered his pasta. "I still think it is better for you to be boss rather than Xanxus."

To that, Tsuna had no comment. Unlike Lambo, he has never met Timoteo's son but his reputation preceded him. Nearly all of Vongola held him in fear and esteem. If Xanxus were made Decimo, the Vongola would face a generation ruled by an iron fist. That, and the Varia would be unstoppable.

"Just so you know, it doesn't work that way," continued Lambo. "One does not become the next Vongola boss by winning votes from the whole family. Of course, acceptance is preferable but all one needs is the approval of the current boss and the Vongola's external advisor, Sawada Iemitsu. You already have both."

Tsuna gritted his teeth. He didn't need to be reminded of his disadvantageous position. He only needed a solution. There was nothing he could do for the Vongola. He had made that decision a long time ago. He forced on a smile and forced the conversation to take an easier direction. "By the way, I've heard news that Reborn is coming to Japan."

Lambo smiled wistfully. "And what do you expect me to do about it?"

Tsuna smiled mirthfully. "Send him roses and a card that sings of your love for him maybe?" Both of them broke out in guffawed laughter as they recounted all the foolish ways Lambo had once tried to capture Reborn's thorny heart.

Unbeknownst to them, a wind of change had come to Namimori.

Not far away, Namimori's baseball star, Yamamoto Takeshi was entertaining a tall, blond guest, who introduced himself as Dino. "Yes, I know Sawada," he said, nodding. "We're classmates. Why?"

Dino Cavallone, 10th boss of the Cavallone family, smiled. "Do you know where I can find him right now?"

Even further away, a blue-haired boy nodded to his companions. "Ken, Chikusa, this would make a lovely hideout."

Back home in Italy, several Vongola men in black suits plotted the discreet assassination of Sawada Tsunayoshi.

Meanwhile, a plane landed outside Narita airport; its large tires screeching to a halt on the asphalt runway. It was too small for a commercial vehicle and too large for a private jet. Stamped upon its side was the symbol of the Vongola. A tall man stepped out, one hand carrying a suitcase and the other keeping the fedora on his head.

"How long are you planning to stay in Japan, Mr. Reborn?" asked the pilot in Italian.

"As long as it takes," the assassin replied ambiguously and nodded a farewell. _Giappone_ smelled different. Several guests have arrives early. Reborn smirked and descended the steps. A new arc was beginning.

**X**

"Tsuna!"

Tsuna stopped just shy of the school gates and looked over his shoulder, bewildered. Aside from Lambo and Kyoko, nobody else bothered with him, much less called him out. He wondered who it could be when he saw his classmates, Yamamoto running towards him in complete baseball garb.

"Hey, Tsuna, wait up! I have to ask you something!"

Ask him something? Yamamoto never spoke to him before. What's got him started now?

"Oi, Yamamoto!" yelled one of the baseball team members from the field. "Where are you going? You're not thinking about skipping practice, are you?"

"I'm not skipping!" retorted Yamamoto loudly. "I just need to speak with Tsuna for a little while!"

"No Good Tsuna? What for?"

"Mind your own business!"

Unamused by the shouting match, Tsuna turned to leave but was halted by Yamamoto's hand on his wrist. "Hold up, I said I need to talk to you, didn't I?" When Yamamoto saw Tsuna staring at the hand that was still touching him, Yamamoto quickly released Tsuna. "I meant to speak to you after class but you left so quickly and the guys dragged me to the locker room before I could get you."

"It's okay," said Tsuna. "What do you need me for?"

Yamamoto fidgeted a little. He hadn't dared approach Tsuna before this, unsure of how he would react around the other boy. Yamamoto had always been sort of attracted to Tsuna; had always thought that Tsuna looked too cute to be a boy. He'd thought that if he tried talking to Tsuna, he might actually blurt out something stupid like 'please go out with me!' But Yamamoto had no choice this time. He had to tell him.

"There is someone looking for you."

"Eh? Who?"

"He's a foreigner. About my height, blond, has tons of bodyguards. He calls himself Dino Cavallone. Is it someone you know?"

"I don't think so. I've never head that name before," lied Tsuna. Of course, he's heard that name. Who in the mafia world hasn't heard of the prodigious boss of the Cavallone family? "Did he ask you for me?"

Yamamoto nodded, slightly relieved that Tsuna didn't know the man. Dino was undeniably good-looking and Yamamoto didn't like the idea of Tsuna getting close to a man like that, even if he wasn't sure that Tsuna even swung that way. "In any case, I was a bit suspicious of him so I sent him in the wrong direction. Since you don't know him, I have nothing to worry about, right?"

Tsuna didn't assent. He had a bad feeling about this. "I don't know. He might be a friend of a friend. Where did you send him to?"

"Kokuyo Middle School. I told him you had a girlfriend in Kokuyo and usually go there after school."

Tsuna sighed inwardly in relief. There was no threat in the Kokuyo area. None that he knew of anyway. But he should go and check with his father just in case. "Thanks for telling me, Yamamoto-san. See you tomorrow."

Yamamoto flushed a little and nodded. "See you." After Tsuna was gone, he slapped himself. "Snap out of it."

**X**

Tsuna's walk home took more time than usual as he walked slower to sort out his thoughts. What in the world could Bucking Horse Dino of the Cavallone family want with him? Sure, that family was part of the alliance as well, but that was no reason for their boss to go around searching for some no-name candidate like Tsuna. Unless Timoteo had told Dino otherwise. That old man had better not have convinced Dino that Tsuna was his true successor or something equally ridiculous.

Perhaps Timoteo sent him to Japan to persuade Tsuna to become a boss as well. That was completely plausible since DIno was a known ally of the Vongola. But Gokudera wasn't. Come to think of it, he couldn't be completely sure that Gokudera was here on Vongola orders.

Maybe Gokudera Hayato was, in actual fact, an assassin hired to finish him off before he could think of succeeding the Vongola throne. Tsuna could think of several people who would prefer him dead. Other candidates to be the next Vongola boss, for instance. Not to mention, Gokudera would be an excellent choice of an assassin because he was Tsuna's age and could get close to him without suspicion.

Tsuna scoffed with displeasure. This was exactly the kind of thing he wanted to avoid when he turned down Timoteo's offer. He was an average kid. He didn't need all this cloak and dagger bullshit in his life. He jammed his hands in his pocket in a decidedly bad mood.

He didn't even see the person in front of him before he walked straight into the person's back. "Oof!" He rubbed the area on his rump where he fell. He couldn't believe he just did that. "Sorry," he said. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Obviously."

Tsuna looked up and against the evening sunlight, saw the dark silhouette of a tall man with a fedora and distinctive sideburns that ended in a curl. Tsuna swallowed. It couldn't be. There was no way he would have luck so bad that he would run into so many members of the Italian mafia in one day. Yet, Tsuna could come up with no other probable answer regarding who this person might be.

_Reborn._ Vongola Nono's most trusted hitman. The rumours were true. But what was he doing here? Tsuna stood up, a little nervously. Did Reborn know who he was? Did Timoteo tell?

Reborn spared him a brief glance before walking away without another word. Tsuna stared after him, speechless. That was it? He had expected some sort of confrontation. An acknowledgement of who he was, at the very least.

Tsuna calmed himself. No, this was good. Maybe Reborn didn't recognise him. He gathered himself and continued his trek home.

When he arrived, the kitchen and living room were empty, which probably meant his mum was out grocery shopping and his father had left the country without prior warning again. Trying to predict Iemitsu's coming and goings were like trying to keep sand from falling through your fingers. But it wasn't totally his fault. Being the head of the CEDEF had its disadvantages.

He put his things in his room, changed into his gym uniform and went for a run. Acting useless was more exhausting that it once was - since he was starting to get tired of it himself - and he needed to unwind. He wished Timoteo would just give in already so he didn't having to act like an idiot anymore.

By the time he came back from his run and showered. his mother had returned with the ingredients for dinner, but they were sitting untouched on the kitchen counter, while his mother was slurping cup noodles on the living room couch while watching television. "_Kaa-san_, why are you eating in here?" asked Tsuna worriedly.

Nana sighed disappointedly. "I went out to buy groceries to make a big dinner for your papa, but he flew off without telling me again, so I've got no mood to make dinner any more. Sorry, Tsu-kun. Your ramen is in the kitchen. Why don't you join mama, here?"

Tsuna hated how his father managed to depress his mother every time he left. But it's not like he could do anything about it. He took his bowl of instant noodles and sat beside his mother.

The news was on.

Tsuna watched, half-interested, as the anchorman announced an earthquake in North America, snowstorms that choked up the streets of London and a group of Italian fugitives whom Interpol believed were in Japan. Tsuna choked on his noodles on that last piece of news.

"The ringleader is believed to be a person called Rokudo Mukuro," said the anchorman. "Not much is known about his person as the Italian government hasn't seen fit to divulge the specifics of this man's crime or profile."

A scene from an interview with a member of the Italian police force was played, his words dubbed in Japanese. "We do not know the motives behind Rokudo Mukuro's actions. But we have strong reason to believe that Mukuro and his friends are headed towards Giappone in search of a certain individual."

Tsuna froze in his seat. There were several people in Japan who were prominent in the Italian underworld. There was Gokudera, of course, and Dino Cavallone, Vongola's own Reborn and _him_, the reluctant candidate to the Vongola family. But Tsuna had no beef with any Italian fugitive whatsoever.

Wait a minute. Could this be the reason his father left? Were the Italian fugitives looking for _him_?

Tsuna glanced at his mother, grateful that she was so ignorant towards all that was happening. Nana had an inkling, of course, regarding what her husband did for a living but never saw the need to probe. It was best she didn't know about this either.

**X**

That night, Tsuna had a strange dream. He was sitting in a small room with no windows, no bed, no anything, really, save for one white, nondescript door. Tsuna himself was knitting. It was an odd thing to do, but at the time, it seemed to make the most perfect sense to be knitting a pair of mittens.

Then, someone entered the room without knocking. It was a boy. He was tall with dark prussian blue hair done up in an odd style. He had a set of menacing eyes with different colours - one blue, and one a curious red - and was wearing a Kokuyo Middle School uniform.

Tsuna stared at the boy. There was something terribly important that he should know about that boy, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember what.

The boy scanned the room before finally locking in on Tsuna. He took in Tsuna's small stature and the half-done mittens in his hands. He scowled darkly. "Not this one either." He went out of the room without so much as a goodbye or an apology and closed the door behind him.

When Tsuna woke up, he could only remember snatched of the dream. He kept having this nagging feeling that he had forgotten all the important part but knew that frowning wouldn't make him remember any better.

To make things worse, the bad feeling from yesterday had doubled and manifested physically as a slight stomachache. He thought about calling in sick but he was one sick day away from failing middle school. So with great reluctance, he put on his school things and started the slow journey to school.

As he walked through the school gates, he heard a loud and obnoxious voice calling him. "SAWADA!" It was Naito Longchamp.

Tsuna instinctively quickened his strides to avoid the redhead. But one of Naito's bodyguard, who was perched on the rooftop with a rifle, started shooting bullets at him and in the time Tsuna took to dodge the dangerous projectiles, Naito caught up to him.

"Yo, Sawada!" he said energetically. "I want to invite you over to my place today! I just finished my mustard packet collection and you're the only one I can think of who'd be interested to see it!"

Tsuna really had no interest in mustard packets but he said yes all the same because Naito's bodyguard still had a long-range rifle trained on him and nothing Tsuna had one was thick enough to deflect bullets. Naito looked as if he was going to launch into a tirade of how he managed to collect a thousand a one different types of mustard packets when the Hibari interrupted them with a tonfa to Tsuna's head.

Tsuna had seen the blow coming and it had taken much of his willpower not to duck and avoid the pain. Naito jumped back, surprised. His bodyguard started shooting but Hibari Kyoya managed to knock away all oncoming bullets without even moving a facial muscle. As expected of the much fear Head of the Disciplinary Committee.

"You two are late for class. Get going," he ordered.

Naito saluted him stupidly and scrambled to his class. Tsuna remained on the ground for a while, making sure that the blow hadn't impaired his eyesight in any way before standing up and running to class. Jarred by the pain, Tsuna forgot his farce for a while and leveled an annoyed glare at Hibari.

Hibari smirked, raising one tonfa. "You look like you've got something to say to me."

_I hate your violent guts._ But Tsuna merely shook his head and walked towards his class, thinking that if there was anyone truly suited to join the mafia, it would be Hibari, were it not for his irrational dislike for crowding. In fact, Hibari's aggressiveness and tyrannic character somewhat reminded Tsuna of Xanxus.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi."

Tsuna scowled. What was it now?

He turned around and saw Gokudera standing three feet away from him in the empty corridor. Everyone else have already retreated to their respective classrooms and by the steady staccato of chalk, Tsuna surmised that class had begun. What did Gokudera want?

"I've spent the whole of yesterday investigating you. Your friends, your hobbies, your personality. I'm done evaluating," said the Italian calmly. He lit the cigarette between his lips and withdrew several sticks of dynamites from his pockets. "I've come to the conclusion that you are no fit to be the next Vongola boss."

Evaluating? What?

Wait, Gokudera wasn't going to light _those_ in the school, was he? He'd destroy the building! No idiot would want to attract that sort of attention. Then, Tsuna remembered that Gokudera was one of those unbalanced types and cursed his luck. "Wait! Who sent you?" Tsuna asked in attempt to distract him.

Several people looked out into the corridors when they heard Tsuna but no one came to his aid. To his credit. Gokudera was completely unperturbed by the unwanted attention. "Reborn-san sent me to evaluate Vongola Nono's favourite candidate in Japan. And now that I've deemed you unworthy, you may die."

Gokudera lit the dynamites in his hand and threw them at Tsuna. Tsuna panicked. He snatched the dynamites out of the air and tossed them out the window, where nothing but ear drums would be harmed. Gokudera gaped a little.

According to the reports from gym class, Sawada Tsunayoshi should have the worst reflexes in his grade. How did he managed to catch the explosives and throw them out in time?

The arsonist growled. "Maybe this will kill you. Double Bomb!"

"_Save your ammo, Gokudera._"

Gokudera quickly extinguished his explosives and looked around. "That voice...Reborn-san?"

Strangely enough, the voice was coming from inside Tsuna's bag. Tsuna unzipped it and gave a soft cry of surprise when a green chameleon crawled out of it. When did that thing get inside his bag?

"_Yes, it's me. Good catch, Gokudera. As expected of the Smokin' Bomb." _The voice indeed came from the chameleon. Was there a mic installed in the creature or something?

"Reborn-san, why is your pet with that weakling?" asked Gokudera, his tone strangely subservient in contrast to his earlier stance.

Tsuna considered the small chameleon. It must've happened yesterday when he ran into Reborn. The man acted like he didn't know who Tsuna was and had snuck his pet into Tsuna's bag. Tsuna sighed. How he hated the mafia types.

"_I am observing Sawada Tsunayoshi myself. But now is not the time for explanations. Around two hours ago, I lost contact with Dino. He's been engage in battle with people, whom I believe are Rokudo Mukuro and his fellow escapees. You and No Good Tsuna are to locate the Bucking Horse and aid him in whatever way you can."_

"The pipsqueak as well?" asked Gokudera with disbelief.

"_This would be a good chance to evaluate him properly, Gokudera_," said Reborn.

Gokudera flashed an angry look at Tsuna that screamed dissatisfaction. Tsuna felt a bloom of pride at having acted well enough to fool Gokudera but that wasn't the most pressing issue at hand. "I'm not going," he said. "Why would I want to go and save some stranger?"

"_Because it was you who allowed him to walk into Rokudo Mukuro's hideout unawares, Stupid Tsuna_," said Reborn.

What? He did no such... Tsuna froze and that ominous feeling in his gut returned threefold. "No way. Rokudo Mukuro was hiding in Kokuyo?"

"_That's right. So go and help Useless Dino, No Good Tsuna. And while you're at it, try to apprehend Mukuro and his pals._"

"I will not fail you, Reborn-san! I will prove to you that I am better suited to be Decimo!" said Gokudera.

"_We shall see._"

Tsuna stared at Gokudera. The silver-haired Italian growled and snapped, "Well, you heard Reborn-san. Let's go!" He started walking out of school, completely indifferent to the stares their little scuffle had attracted. Tsuna stayed put, the wheels in his head turning.

This Italian wanted to be Vongola Decimo? Fine. Then, Tsuna would help him wholeheartedly.

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_Tsuzuku..._

(To be continued...)

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**Next chapter:**

_"Yea, I came here searching for you Tsuna," said Dino. "One of your classmates said you have a girlfriend who goes to Kokuyo. So, where is she?"_

_Tsuna raised an eyebrow at this ridiculous person. Did he really expect Tsuna to produce a girl amidst the ruins of an abandoned theme park? Additionally, that girlfriend was a lie made up by Yamamoto!_

_"I'm afraid, it is I!" said Mukuro, suddenly stepping into the frenzy, "I am Tsunayoshi's intended."_

_"...I have to say I didn't see that coming," said Shamal._

_"It's not true," said Tsuna patiently._

_"As expected of the person who is to succeed the Vongola. You have unique tastes, Tsuna-kun," said Dino._

_"I told you IT'S NOT TRUE!"_


	2. two

**pairing **some 6927 in this chapter

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"Eyes forward, Sawada Tsunayoshi!"

Tsuna flitted his eyes to the blackboard briefly without registering the chalk letters or the red-faced teacher and resumed staring out the window. It's been two hours since Gokudera had left for Kokuyo and not one minute passed without his guilty conscience torturing him. He wondered if he had made the right choice in remaining behind, letting the hothead Italian find the Bucking Horse himself.

_"I'm not going. If I miss today's classes, I'll fail the whole grade for sure. And besides, what can I do? I can't fight."_

_"I know you can't," scoffed Gokudera. "You're useless. But Reborn-san asked you to go with me so you're going whether you like it or not."_

_"I don't care what Reborn said! I'm not going!"_

Tsuna had led Gokudera handle everything alone on the assumption that the other boy was strong enough to fend of himself. He was Smokin' Bomb Hayato, after all. That nickname didn't appear all by itself.

Nonetheless, remorse gnawed away at his gut like a persistent mosquito. Maybe there was a good reason why Reborn had ordered Tsuna to go along with Gokudera. Maybe he knew that the boy couldn't take down the enemies alone. But what did Reborn have in mind for Tsuna then? If rumours severed true, the hitman was more than capable of accessing Tsuna's records and must know of Tsuna's poor physical ability. He couldn't even tackle the third level of a vaulting horse, for crying out loud!

"Sawada."

Or maybe...maybe Reborn already suspected that Tsuna was faking. _This would be a good chance to evaluate him properly, Gokudera_, he had said. Tsuna bit his lip.

What should he do? If the enemies were strong enough to hold down even the Bucking Horse, it was possible that they could defeat Gokudera. What if Gokudera was injured badly; lying in a pool of his own blood all because Tsuna had refused to come along and help?

"Sawada!"

Hang on, Gokudera was a notorious thug, even among mafia circles. There's no way he would go down that easily. But if he were outnumbered - The news report said there were three of them: Rokudo Mukuro and his underlings. Any fighter, no matter how strong, would free pressured fighting under a handicap like that.

But what could Tsuna do? He couldn't leave now. He needed to sit through everything today to prevent failing. Tsuna froze. _Wait, what are you thinking, Tsuna? Is passing more important than someone else's impending doom? You know better than that!_

"SAWADA!"

"WHAT?!" Tsuna roared in annoyance.

The entire class screeched to a halt and stared at him with wide eyes. They had never seen Tsuna get angry before, much less scream at a teacher. Yamamoto frowned with concern. Was something bothering Tsuna?

Upon realising what he had just done, Tsuna bowed his head and stuttered an apology at the teacher, who himself was surprised by the outburst. "You shouldn't be daydreaming quite so often, Sawada," Nezu-sensei sniffed with disapproval. "You are barely keeping up as it is. Now, what is the answer to this problem?"

Tsuna looked at the blackboard and was surprised when he saw a mathematics equation. Hadn't he been studying history only a minute ago? Tsuna wiped his face exasperatedly. At this rate, it was pointless to sit here any more. He couldn't even pay attention. He pushed his things into his bag and stood up.

"Sawada, where do you think you're going?!" cried the pinch-faced teacher. "Class isn't over yet!"

"...stomachache," Tsuna fibbed, a little belatedly.

"What? You don't look like you're having a-"

"Ouch! It really hurts!" exclaimed Tsuna, bending over and grabbing at his stomach. I really need to go and see the nurse, sensei! It hurts too much!"

"Sawada!" Nezu-sensei protested but Tsuna was already out the door.

**

* * *

**

**Saluta Morte de Parta Mia**

**13 October 2009**

**

* * *

**

The bus pulled to a halt several feet away from the bright red stop sign by the side of the road. "This is as far as I go, boy," said the bus driver, pulling the lever to open the doors. "The road ahead is not suited for automobiles."

Tsuna thanked the bus driver and got out, taking in the bleak landscape of what used to be the old Kokuyo Theme Park. Several months back, a private company planned to build a new shopping mall here and demolished the park. But the project was abandoned halfway and all that was left was rubble and large leftovers of old attractions.

It was depressing to see this once lively place degenerated into this dump.

Tsuna remembered coming here often as a kid with his parents and Timoteo. Those days had been carefree, he thought with a wistful smile.

"So," he said aloud, "where do I go from here?"

The green chameleon that had been riding on his shoulder all the while fidgeted a little when a voice came through the minute speaker sitting on its back. "_Dino was somewhere in this are when I lost contact so Gokudera probably started his search here. You should've accompanied him from the get go, Stupid Tsuna._"

Tsuna rolled his eyes even though he knew Reborn couldn't see it. _Haven't properly met you and I already hate you._ Tsuna had found Leon, the chameleon, in his bag while on the bus. No doubt the chameleon was Reborn's way of keeping his eye on Tsuna. Tsuna didn't mind it all that much were it not for Reborn's annoying jibes every now and again.

He started to pick his way through the uneven landscape. Though he had a starting point, he had no way of knowing where Gokudera could be right now. He wondered if shouting his name would be a wise idea. Accidentally catching the tip of his foot on a protruding piece of rubble, Tsuna pitched forward with a yelp.

The mic on Leon's back was audio only. Nonetheless, Reborn could surmise what had happened. "_Get up, Useless Tsuna_," he said with a sigh.

But Tsuna wasn't listening. He was distracted by a rather large paw print next to the ground where he fell. It looked too big to have belonged to any ordinary canine. Additionally, there were smears of blood in the print. _Gokudera's?_ Tsuna frowned as he traced the print with his finger and tried to estimate the size of the beast.

He looked up when he sensed some movement to his right. It was minute but Tsuna had been looking for it. Gokudera had no reason to hide his movements from him so it was most likely Rokudo or his friend. Tsuna stood up. "What do you want?" he asked, loud enough for the other man to hear.

"Those are my lines, brat!" A blond youth with a long, horizontal scar across his nose and his words were tinged with a nervousness he failed to mask completely. He obviously had not expected to be found out. "Kokuyo is our territory. You're trespassing! Who are you? Depending on who you are, I might not let you pass."

Oh yeah, the news had mentioned that Rokudo and his accomplices had come to Japan in search of someone. It was obviously not Dino or Gokudera, despite their ties to the mob. In fact, Tsuna was pretty sure that it was his useless father they were looking for. That would explain Iemitsu's quick departure from the country. Well, in that case, he certainly wasn't going to let this guy know that he was a Sawada.

"My name is Tsuna."

The blond smirked, revealing a fanged incisor. "Tsuna. That would be short for Tsunayoshi, _si_?"

Tsuna frowned. Why did it matter?

"So _you_ are Sawada Tsunayoshi!"

Tsuna became alarmed. He had been mistaken. They weren't here for his father at all! But why? Why him? This had better have nothing to do with the fact that he was a candidate for Vongola Decimo.

The blond lifted his fingers to his lips and whistled sharply. Two large black canines jumped out from behind him, fangs bared and hackles raised. The blond grinned menacingly. "Fetch."

Tsuna ran, cursing profusely as he did so. He had hoped to avoid any physical effort on his part. He was not as weak as his official reports would lead nosy people (like Reborn) to believe, but neither was he superhuman enough to outrun hounds. Faced with a barren landscape, he found nothing he could wield as a weapon and nobody in sight to come to his aide. Then, for the second time today, he tripped, and fell into a chasm.

He clenched his eyes, dreading impact, when he felt something relatively soft collapse under him, breaking his fall. Tsuna blinked slowly, adjusting to the darkness of the chasm and quickly moved to one side when he heard groaning under him.

"Pipsqueak?!" It was Gokudera. He was on the other side of the chasm and his dynamites were out, which meant he was in the middle of a fight.

"_Merda._" The person Tsuna had fallen on struggled to his feet. It was another boy. He looked as young as the feral blond who commanded the canines, except with darker hair and a stiffer upper lip. He opened his mouth to say something when the hounds that had been chasing Tsuna leapt into the chasm and accidentally pounced on the boy, bringing him to the ground again.

Tsuna grimaced. How unlucky of him.

When the hounds realised that they had pounced on an ally, they quickly ran back up the mouth of the chasm, using their quick reflexes and long limbs to bounce off walls that were otherwise unclimbable. The boy straggled to his feet again, his expression blacker than ever. "I'm not wasting any more time with you," he grumbled at Gokudera, somehow missing Tsuna's presence in the darkness. "The poison in your body is enough to finish you in a couple of hours anyway."

He threw a yo-you towards the sky, out of the hole. When it latched onto something, he used it like a grappling look and reeled himself out of the darkness. Gokudera growled and sent several lit bombs in his direction to stop him. But the boy managed to deflect them all by launching out needles from his yo-yo weapon. The bombs exploded, sending more rubble coming down.

Gokudera and Tsuna covered their heads to avoid choking on debris. By the time the dust cleared, the boy was gone. Gokudera cursed loudly and colourfully in Italian. He staggered towards the side to lean against a wall, his breaths coming in laboured pants.

Tsuna knelt next to him, brows furrowing with guilt. He was right to come. Gokudera really couldn't handle the enemies on his own. But if he couldn't, then what could Tsuna hope to achieve against them?

But forget fighting Italian fugitives. They needed to get out of here first. Tsuna looked up towards the mouth of the chasm. It was impossible to climb out, what with Gokudera immobilised. There had to be another way.

In the dark, it was hard to see if any recesses in the rubble could lead to an exit, so Tsuna had to fumble around. He tripped (_not again!_ he cried) and slashed his knee open upon a shard of thick acrylic glass. Tsuna bit his lip and pressed his handkerchief hard against the wound to staunch the bleeding.

Why was there such a huge piece of glass here? What was this place?

Tsuna squinted in the dark, searching for some clue. He finally found it when he recognised the mural of underwater sea creatures running across the plaster of a broken wall. He remembered seeing it as a child in the theme park's underground aquarium. They must be sitting in what was left of it. Tsuna brushed his fingers over the broken mural. He recalled not liking this place at all because he hated the sight of the sea creatures trapped behind glass.

_"Don't worry, Tsu-kun,"_ his mother had said back then. _"If you don't like it, we can go out any time we want. This aquarium was built with many exits leading to various other parts of the theme park. Isn't that cool, Tsu-kun?"_

Tsuna grinned. Yes, very cool indeed. He started feeling for the walls more fervently, trying to see if any one of the collapsed piece was barricading the entrance to one of those convenient exits. Gokudera frowned at him suspiciously through a haze of pain. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to find a way out," said Tsuna.

"Yeah, right," said Gokudera listlessly. "We're done for. I've got too much poison in my body and much as I loathe to admit it, those guys up there are more powerful than I am. With you alone, there's no way we can beat them."

"I never pegged you as one who gave up so easily."

"I'm a realist. I know a dead end situation when I see one. And this is definitely one."

At the sound of defeat in Gokudera's voice, Tsuna finally stopped and whirled around. "What happened to 'I will not fail you, Reborn-san'?" he mocked coldly. "What happened to proving yourself suitable to be Decimo?"

"That was a lie."

Come again?

"I never waned to be the next Vongola boss," Gokudera admitted with his chin against his chest. "But when I heard a kid my age, weaker than me, was going to become the next boss, I couldn't accept it. I had to test him. That's why I came to Japan. You failed the test, by the way. At least I can die knowing that I've prevented the Vongola from choosing an unsuitable leader."

"As if!" exclaimed Tsuna, surprising himself with the heat in his voice. "What makes you think it's okay to act cool but when it comes to situations like these, you just hang up your coat and say it's okay do die for the family! It's never okay to die like that! That's why I hate you mafia types!"

"What do you know about the Vongola?" Gokudera demanded angrily. He continued, even when Tsuna turned his back to him and continued his search. "What would you, with your perfect life and peaceful childhood, know about us mafia types, huh? I was raised by a family who hated my mistress of a mother! I was forced to train day and night, all because I had to earn my right to be a part of my family! The Vongola was the only one who accepted me for who I am, what I am! And if I have a die in service to them, then I would die happy!"

Tsuna replied by hoisting up a large piece of rubble and beat it against the wall.

"Oi, have you lost it?"

"Shut up," said Tsuna stiffly as he pounded the wall with all his strength. Blood continued to dribble down his knee. He tried his very best to block out the sharp pang of pain. "Maybe you're right," he said in between pounds." Maybe I don't know the Vongola. But _you don't know my family. _What perfect lie? What peaceful childhood? Every time my father gets called away to business, my mother cries herself to sleep. If we're having any sort of crisis, I try to call my father and that bastard tells me to understand his situation and stop calling him! And the neighbours - the _stupid _neighbours - always talk about my poor mother, whose husband is always leaving here. 'Probably has another mistress overseas. Poor Nana and her useless boy.'

At some point, he had started yelling. He had never told anyone else this story. No one else would've understood. "And now _this!_ This Reborn tells me I have to put my life in danger, sacrifice my grades, just because a friend of mine accidentally sent some stranger into the arms of some Italian criminals? I never wanted this! I never wanted _any of this_!"

Finally, the wall he had been beating down hard against gave way and crumbled. When the debris cleared, Tsuna saw a flight of stairs and knew that he had found it. The exit.

Gokudera stared dumfounded at Tsuna with a mix of disbelief and awe.

Tsuna sighed. "I never chose Vongola," he said in a much calmer tone, "so I'll be darned if I let Vongola choose me."

He went over to Gokudera and pulled the Italian's arm over his shoulders. "Come on. It's not all me. You have to work too," he said through gritted teeth as he tried to lift the larger boy.

"Sawada."

Tsuna stilled. Gokudera's voice sounded oddly quiet all of a sudden.

"Sawada," said Gokudera again. "You failed my test on purpose, didn't you?"

Tsuna looked away and chose not to answer. After all that, it seemed superfluous to resume the dumb act in front of Gokudera.

"You know, _Signore _Timoteo always spoke about you," continued Gokudera. "He said you had all the qualities of a good leader. When I first saw you, I thought he had gone soft in the head. But now...now I think I understand."

Hang on one second. Tsuna understood that Gokudera was complimenting him, and that was nice, but he didn't like where this was going.

Gokudera managed a pained smile at him. "I vow to follow you and serve you as best as I can, Tenth."

At that moment, Tsuna wondered if he should just let Gokudera die.

**X**

When Tsuna finally saw the blue sky, he cheered with relief. Sometime during the climb, the poison had attacked Gokudera's consciousness and the poor boy now lay limp over a mountain of rubble. Tsuna tried to arrange the arsonist's body to a comfortable position and wondered what he should do next. There was no way he had enough energy or strength to carry Gokudera all the way to the hospital. And no ambulance would come out this far into Kokuyo either.

"_Oi, No Good Tsuna._"

Tsuna jumped a little in surprise. He had forgotten all about Leon who had been on his shoulder all this while. As annoyed as he had been with Reborn earlier, relief flooded him when he knew he wasn't alone in this forsaken theme park. "Reborn, Gokudera's poisoned and he just fainted."

"I know," said Reborn through his pet. "I was listening the whole time."

Dread overcame Tsuna. Reborn had been listening? Even during that outburst at Gokudera earlier? How much did Reborn now know?

"I know everything," answered Reborn. "I have to admit, you've fooled quite a lot of people. But this isn't the time to talk about your stupid act. Mukuro and his gang is still on the loose and I still cannot contact Dino. Leave Gokudera where he is. I've already contacted a doctor. Your job now is to search for Mukuro."

"And do what?" Tsuna deadpanned. "I doubt I'm going to be much use against a dangerous Italian fugitive." Sure, he was a bit sore that Reborn now knew his secret. He could only hope that Reborn wouldn't tell Timoteo immediately. Perhaps Tsuna could negotiate with Reborn after the whole ordeal was over. As a strong hitman, Reborn surely wouldn't want a weakling like him leading the family.

Suddenly, the public announcement system crackled to life. Over the crackle of static, Tsuna could hear a voice, obviously male, talking to him. "Is Sawada Tsunayoshi present? You are, aren't you? My name is Rokudo Mukuro."

Tsuna's eyebrows jumped. This wasn't at all how he had expected to be approached. He wondered if this Rokudo Mukuro was one of those unbalanced types as well.

"I really want to see you," said Rokudo over the speakers. "Come to the reptile zoo. If you want Bucking Horse to remain alive, come alone. If you are not here in five minutes, I will consider my request rejected and will kill your friend. Goodbye." The PA system went off.

"Well, what are you waiting for, Stupid Tsuna? You have five minutes. Go!" ordered Reborn.

"Easy for you to say. You're not the one walking towards imminent danger," muttered Tsuna under his breath.

Tsuna made for the building that once housed over two hundred reptiles. With the place closed down, Tsuna doubted that any of them were left. Still, he wondered if there was a reason why Rokudo asked him to come to the reptile zoo of all places.

The inside of the building was surprisingly bright. There was a large hole punched through the ceiling that served as a skylight. Tsuna maneuvered himself over broken pieces of wall and glass, careful not to further injure the wound on his knee.

Tsuna trained his eyes into the shadows, half-expecting a burly, muscular man to come pounding through and grab him in a choke hold. But not such things occurred. Tsuna looked in vain. "Rokudo? Are you here?"

"Over here," said a voice to his right.

Tsuna turned right and found himself in front of the humongous glass tank that had once caged a large snake. It was surprisingly still intact. He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him when he saw a boy sitting inside the cage but no matter how many times he blinked, the image didn't fade. "Rokudo?" he tried.

The boy smiled and Tsuna was strongly reminded of a snake. How befitting.

The boy stared at Tsuna, brows furrowing a little. "You are Sawada Tsunayoshi?" he asked dubiously.

"Yes," answered Tsuna cautiously.

Rokudo released a soft exhale of breath. "The boy sewing mittens. I had not thought it would be you."

At the curious comment, Tsuna suddenly remembered his strange dream from last night. "That was you!" exclaimed Tsuna. "But how - what - what were you doing in my dream?"

Rokudo laughed. "Honestly, I had not expected Sawada Tsunayoshi to look like such a weakling. Well, weakling or not, I shall not underestimate your strength." With a snap of his fingers, snakes came jumping out of nowhere towards Tsuna.

Tsuna let out a yelp of disgust and proceeded to bat away the projectile reptiles.

"I wouldn't advice you to do that," said Mukuro as one of the aggravated snakes sank its fangs into Tsuna's arms. Tsuna winced and dropped to his knees, worsening his earlier injury. "Now that I have your attention, would your please sit down?"

Tsuna wondered cynically if Mukuro's idea of grabbing someone's attention was to completely incapacitate him. A chair materialised out of thin air before Tsuna. Mukuro gestured at it. Tsuna took one look at the chair, then one look at Mukuro, and decided that he had officially crossed over to la la land where you could wish for stuff and they'd appear out of nowhere.

_Well, I wish for a normal life_. Nothing happened. _I guess it doesn't work that way._

Tsuna limped towards the chair and sat down. Depending on how potent the snake's poison was, he could be dead within minutes but he had a feeling Rokudo needed him alive for the meantime. "What do you want from me?" he asked, irritated.

"Straightforward. I like that," said Rokudo, the sides of his lips lifting a little. "Then I shall not beat around the bush either. I want you to save me, Sawada Tsunayoshi."

Tsuna blinked .That wasn't at all what he had expected. Actually, that didn't even make sense! "What are you talking about, Rokudo?"

Rokudo laughed lightly. "Please, call me Mukuro. Everyone does."

Tsuna's left eye twitched. "Okay...Mukuro..." Tsuna had to stifle a shiver when the Italian's smirk grew wider when he heard Tsuna say his given name. What was with this guy? He was more unbalanced that Gokudera!

"Tsunayoshi." Oh my goodness, he had taken to calling Tsuna by his given name too! "Just by looking at me, you can tell that I am special, _si_?"

Not so much special. More like a whack job. But Tsuna wisely held his tongue.

"See, I have this eye," said Mukuro, lifting up his long fringe to reveal a crimson iris with the kanji for 'six' (六) in placed of a pupil. "It allows me many special abilities. I can summon animals, conjure illusions, fight like the best martial arts masters, and sometimes, I can glimpse into my own future." He paused for effect and had probably thought he had somehow wowed Tsuna into stunned silence. But Tsun was just lamenting the fact that he was going to die at the hands of a mental case.

Mukuro went on, "The future I see is not very definitive. I only see vague clues of what is to happen. And what I have seen quite a few times is that the person who will save me is the tenth boss of the Vongola family."

At this, Tsuna raised his hands in defense. "I'm sorry. I don't know what you may have heard but I'm certainly not the tenth boss of the Vongola."

"Not yet," said Mukuro and he sounded so sured of himself that Tsuna became more pissed. "I know everything that happens in the mafia world and according to my information, you are the favourtie to succeed Vongola Nono."

"Look at me," reasoned Tsuna. "You said it yourself. I'm weak. What could I possibly do to save you?"

"I don't know," admitted Mukuro. "But I know that even at the cost of my pride, you are the one whose feet I have to grovel at if I want to breathe fresh air again." Here, his eyes dimmed and that air of arrogance left him momentarily. His entire being cringed with such despair that Tsuna felt his heart twinge with pity.

"What is it that you want me to save you from anyway?"

Mukuro stood up and started walking towards Tsuna. But just when Tsuna thought he was going to walk smack into the acrylic glass, Mukuro _walked right through it_ like a magician with an illusion. Tsuna stared dumfounded as Mukuro stood in front of him and bent over. "I will show you," he said, and touched his forehead to Tsuna's.

Tsuna gasped as he felt something touch his mind and an image was streamed straight into his head. Tsuna screwed his eyes shut at the sensation and when he opened his eyes, felt his breath leave him.

Water. There was so much water. There was water all around him. He couldn't breathe. He needed to get out of here. Where was here? He closed his eyes again and in the next moment, found himself on dry land. He was dry, as if he had never been in the water. He looked around. He was in a basement of sorts. There was wiring and piping.

Most importantly, there was a huge glass cylinder that extended from the ground to the sky. The cylinder encapsulated tons of water and was plugged to a machine to keep it running. Tsuna stared in awestruck horror as he touched the glass cylinder and looked right at the floating form of Mukuro in the water.

He looked unconscious. There was a tube that was fixed to his right eye and a mask over his nose and mouth that fed him oxygen. His wrists were handcuffed and his ankles were shackled to the bottom of the glass prison. Unconscious, Mukuro bobbed in the water as if asleep; his dark blue hair floating around his in an almost ethereal manner.

Tsuna wanted to look away but he couldn't. He wanted to get him out. He wanted to destroy the machine and tear Mukuro out of this prison, but he couldn't. He couldn't even move. It was like he wasn't even there except in mind.

No one deserved this. It was a violation of every human right Tsuna could think of. He didn't even realise that he was biting his lip until he tasted blood. He had to get out of here. Either get Mukuro out of here and get out of here himself because he couldn't stand it. The shock of the cruelty being done to this boy was eating him. Tsuna screamed.

"_Tsunayoshi._"

Tsuna took a deep shuddering breath. He recognised that timbre. "M-Mukuro?"

"_It is I._" Mukuro's voice echoed around him, haunting and hollow. "_You understand now why I wish to be rescued._"

"This - this is your future?"

"_This is where I am now. This is the Vendici prison, the place they keep the criminals who have wronged the mafia. I am one such individual._"

"You mean there are others here who are locked up like you?" asked Tsuna with disbelief.

"_Not in the same manner as I am, I imagine. They are most likely kept behind bars, like I once was. But I tried to escape too many times and so they chained me here. I have been here for two years._"

"But I just saw you," said Tsuna. "You were in front of me!"

"_My eye allows me to project illusions and I carry a trident that lets me possess the person whose body I slice with it. When Ken and Chikusa broke free, they took my trident with them and captured someone for me to possess as I search for the man who is to become Vongola Decimo. And now I have found him._"

Tsuna frowned. "I'm sorry. I promised myself that I would never become Vongola Decimo. I'm not about to break that promise for a fugitive I hardly know."

In the real world, Mukuro scowled. Being so inferior-looking, he had expected the Japanese boy to comply with his wishes. He lifted his tridents, poised to attack. If this boy wasn't going to help him, Mukuro was going to help himself.

"But-" Tsuna swallowed. Mukuro blinked. There was more? "But ... I will try my best to get you out of this place. I don't believe in that future your eye sees. I'm not going to become the Vongola boss. But this," Tsuna's face tightened with emotion, "this is wrong."

Suddenly, the vision shattered and Tsuna found himself on the chair back in the Kokuyo reptile zoo. He took a huge heaving breath, feeling highly disoriented and puzzled. What had just happened? One minute he was here and then he was there and then he was back here again. La la land wasn't actually real, was it?

He felt Mukuro's shadow fall over him and looked up into Mukuro's mismatched eyes. They were glowering with uncertainty. "So, the one standing in front of me now isn't real?" he breathed. He reached out to touch Mukuro's hand. "Feels real though."

The same hand shot up to clutch the front of Tsuna's shirt viciously. "How can I trust you to keep your word?" asked Mukuro, his voice low and dangerous. "How do I know that you won't turn tail the second I release you?"

"Give me your trident," said Tsuna softly. He only spoke gently because Mukuro was so close to him and speaking loudly would feel ridiculous. But when he saw the other boy's eyes soften a little, he wondered if Mukuro might have misunderstood a little. Nevertheless, Mukuro handed over his silver-tipped weapon. Tsuna took the trident in his hand and without breaking his gaze with Mukuro, sliced open his left forearm.

Mukuro's jaw dropped. "What are you-"

"This way, you can possess me anytime you think I'm going back on my word," explained Tsuna. "Is this good enough for you?"

Mukuro retrieved his trident, a look of awed admiration on his face. Tsuna frowned a bit. That expression looked familiar but at the moment, the pain in his arm was impeding his memory. "You are a most curious creature, Sawada Tsunayoshi. I look forward to your future endeavours."

"That makes one of us," Tsuna muttered offhandedly. "You know, if this was all you wanted, you didn't have to go to all this trouble of getting to me. You couldn't just dropped by my school or house to see me."

"Yes, well, Bucking Horse's presence had been quite unexpected," said Mukuro. "He burst into this place yelling and whipping everything in his way. He was so terribly annoying that I sent my friends to subdue him."

"You mean the ugly one with the dogs and the tall one with the needle-shooting yo-yos?"

Mukuro chuckled at the description. "Yes, that would be them. They are my comrades."

"So now that I've seen them, will you released Dino?"

"I had no intention of keeping him," assured Mukuro. "But I wonder if I could ask another favour of you." Tsuna gestured with his head for him to continue. "Ken and Chikusa only attacked you and your friend under my orders. They-" Mukuro paused, as if thinking of how to best phrase his next words. "Could you watch over them? They just broke out of incarceration and I do not wish for them to be taken back."

Tsuna shook his head. "They are not _my_ comrades. I only agreed to free you, not them."

"But-"

Tsuna helf up his hand, silencing the other boy. "They will go back to their cells and their lives of confinement. When I set you free, you can break them out whenever you wish."

"I will not allow it!" growled Mukuro. "After what they have done for me, they will be treated like dogs! They will be starved, kept in darkness, beaten, humiliated-"

"Was that what happened to you?"

Those six words made Mukuro freeze in shock and disgust at himself. Pain and misery were abundant in his memories. Being electrocuted into unconsciousness; that had been painful, yes, he had lost motor function in some of his limbs sometimes. His right eye being stitched shut; that hurt even more because that was akin to sealing his power and his eye had hurt for _weeks_. Nibbling the prison floor because he was so, so hungry and the guards hadn't bothered to give him food for three days now and his stomach hurt so bad. The guards laughed. Mukuro wanted to rip out their tongues and make them eat it. And light, he hasn't seen light in an eternity. He barely remembered what it looked like, what it felt like.

"Mukuro." There was a hand on his face. When and how did it get there? But most importantly, it was warm. Yes. Light was warm. Light was pleasant to behold. Mukuro closed his fingers over the hand. Sawada Tsunayoshi was very much like light. Even as an illusion, Mukuro could feel his warmth like a distant candle.

He was perplexed. This was a situation he had never been in before. He, who had been born in captivity and raised by wolves in human skin, felt utterly out of place at being the recipient of such gentle warmth.

But _why_?

Why was this boy directing that warmth at him?

"I will speak with my grandfather," said Tsuna a little reluctantly, unaware of the confusing emotions flickering behind Mukuro's mismatched eyes. "As head of the Vongola, he must have some influence. I will make sure that your friends will not be abused. I think that is a better idea than letting them run amok and leaderless in Japan."

Mukuro smiled, in spite of himself, and reluctantly removed the hand from his face. "Thank you, Sawada Tsunayoshi. I will hold you to your word."

WIth that, his form started to fade away like mist until his image was completely displace with a small, unassuming girl with large eyes and a frail figure. This must be the person Mukuro had been possessing. Tsuna was relieved to find that she didn't appear injured in any way.

"My name is Tsuna," he offered, with a smile "What's yours?"

The girl returned the smile shyly. "Nagi."

**X**

Tsuna was more than relieved that his proceedings with Rokudo Mukuro had went over smoothly. Well, sort of, anyway. For a crazy person, the blue-haired fugitive was strangely easy to negotiate with. Still, he couldn't help but feel this twinge of dissatisfaction as he walked away from the reptile zoo with Nagi on his arm. For some reason, he felt as if he'd accidentally acquired another underling. All within the course of two hours!

"Boss, you're bleeding," commented Nagi when she saw the blossoming bloodstain on the sleeve of his school uniform.

Yeesh, how in the world was he going to explain that to his mom? He was going to have to wash this set by himself just to avoid suspicion and waitaminute. Tsuna looked at Nagi. "What did you just call me?"

Nagi blinked. "Boss."

Tsuna tried his hard to stamp down on his feeling of dread. "And why would you call me that?"

"Because Mukuro-sama asked me to."

_I knew it!_ Tsuna groaned. "You don't have to call me that, really. In fact, I'd be happier if you just call me Tsuna. By the way, why do you call him Mukuro-sama? He forcibly possessed you, didn't he?"

Nagi shook her tiny head fervently. "No, Mukuro-sama didn't force anything on me. He took me from the hospital where the doctors were going to leave me for dead because my parents didn't want to pay for my operation and healed me with his illusions."

Tsuna was so struck dumb by Nagi's story that he didn't know which question to ask first. "What do you mean he healed you?" he said first.

Nagi placed a hand on her abdomen. "I don't have a stomach. When I got hit by a car, my stomach ruptured and the doctors had to take it out. But Mukuro-sama's illusion is strong enough to create a new stomach in me. As long as he keeps his illusion, I will stay alive."

Tsuna nodded apprehensively, deciding not to ask any more. Apparently with Mukuro around, any place turned into la la land. Well, if Nagi's story proved true, maybe he should enlist Mukuro's help if he died of snake venom today, which would be humourlessly ironic, but it wasn't like he had many options here.

Suddenly, Tsuna felt a sharp and painful whip hit his backside and pitched forward. Nagi cried in surprise and quickly helped Tsuna back onto his feet. Tsuna rubbed the sore spot on his butt, embarrassed. Didn't he just make peace with Mukuro? Why were his underlings still attacking him?

"Hello, Sawada Tsunayoshi."

Another Italian accent. Tsuna turned around to see his attacker and saw a head of blond hair and a large grin. "Well, you look strangely chipper for someone who just escaped imminent danger," quipped Tsuna.

Dino Cavallone tipped his head to the side confusedly. "I was in imminent danger? When?"

Tsuna's brow furrowed, suspicions starting to grow dark in his head. "Because Mukuro ... I mean, I'd understand if he lied to me since he was then my enemy and wanted my cooperation but even Reborn - you lost contact with Reborn, which meant you got into trouble, right?"

Dino look genuinely puzzled. "Lost contact? Romario, did we lose contact with Reborn during battle?"

A middle-aged man with a straight mustache and dressed in a smart black suit appeared from behind a large piece of rubble, checking his mobile. He shook his head. "No, sir. Communications was completely fine the entire time. In fact, I just got off the phone with _Signore _Reborn. He's on his way here."

"Not on the way. I'm here." The tall black-clad hitman approached the small group from behind. Romario stepped away, nodding once in acknowledgement and respect, while Dino merely stepped aside to make space for the assassin. Reborn spotted Nagi, standing halfway behind Tsuna as if his small stature would be enough to make her invisible, and said, "You are the girl Mukuro took from the hospital, correct?"

Nagi flinched visibly and tried to hide further behind Tsuna.

"Your involvement with Mukuro must first be ascertained," continued Reborn. "You will be taken into Vongola custody until we are sure you are not a threat."

Feeling Nagi shiver against his back, Tsuna protested, "Now, wait just one minute -"

"You should get that looked at," said Reborn, pointing at the bleeding wound on Tsuna's arm. "The doctor is with Gokudera. Go to him."

"I'm not leaving without-"

"Don't worry. I'll take care of her," said Reborn. He held out his hand to Nagi, who stared at it for the longest time before slowly stepping from around Tsuna.

"Nagi?"

The girl turned to Tsuna, lip still quivering but with a determined look in her eye. "Mukuro-sama says it's alright to follow him."

"You can hear Mukuro right now?" asked Tsuna, surprised.

"A side-effect of the possession," noted Reborn.

With his attention diverted back to Reborn, Tsuna narrowed his eyes dangerously into slits. "You lied to Gokudera and I, didn't you? Dino was never in danger. He never needed any help here."

Reborn smirked. "Of course not. He's not so weak as to require assistance from a nobody like you. He did train under me, after all." Dino scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

But Tsuna didn't register any of that. He only registered red. Rage boiled in his gut and filled his insides. He clenched his hands into fists. He didn't recall ever being this angry before. Not even when Timoteo tried to persuade him to become Decimo for the first time. Tsuna badly wanted to punch Reborn's head in. Anything to wipe that smugness of his face. He wanted to let loose a rant so long and angry that by the time he was done, Reborn's ears would be bleeding. Instead, he settled on a more controlled version of his rant: "Why?"

"Isn't it obvious? I wanted to test the two of you."

"TEST?!" shrieked Tsuna, losing control of his temper. "Gokudera could've died! He might be dying at this moment! What would you do if I hadn't found a way out of that aquarium? What would you have done if one of us died?!"

"But you didn't die," Reborn pointed out clinically. "And as for Gokudera, if he can't handle this level of an opponent, he's an embarrassment. While I'm glad he's pledged loyalty to you, he's obviously too weak to be your subordinate."

Tsuna couldn't believe the words that were coming out of Reborn's mouth. He didn't want subordinates. Who said he needed any? And what right did Reborn have, using him and Gokudera like pawns? Tsuna felt like a kettle of boiling water left too long on the stove. Had he not rationalised that he could not, in any way, incapacitate this hitman, he wouldn've launched himself at Reborn in a full body attack.

"I know what you're thinking," said Reborn suddenly. "You think I'm scum. You think I don't have the right. But did you forget that Rokudo Mukuro's target from the get go was you? Even if I did not send you here today, he would find some way of approaching you and based on his past endeavours, injury would not be avoided."

As much as Tsuna didn't want to admit the truth in Reborn's words, he could not. He didn't want to. Not right this second anyway. He gave a final look of consolation to Nagi before he hobbled away to receive some medical attention.

Once he was out of earshot, Dino Cavallone whistled. "A hothead, that one."

Reborn slid his eyes towards his former pupil. "And? What kind of results to you bring me? Romario says that the two other fugitives you had been pursuing escaped. Compared to No Good Tsuna who has no training whatsoever, this is pathetic."

Dino grinned sheepishly. "Ah, you see, I was caught in this illusion and by the time I figured out that the Japanese policemen shooting at me weren't real, the enemy ran away. I'm sorry."

Reborn sighed. "Mukuro's illusions are top class. If he could fool the Vendici, he can fool anyone. At least, he's using it for something good, for once," he said, laying a hand across Nagi's shoulders.

**X**

Tsuna found Gokudera unconscious on the ground, where he left him. Hovering over him was a man in his early forties with lazy eyes and a long white lab coat draped over his shoulders as if he couldn't really be bothered to wear it properly. On his extended index finger was a lone mosquito. Tsuna might've imagined it - who was to say he wasn't still stuck in la la land? - but he could've sworn that the man was conversing with the insect.

"Excuse me," said Tsuna hesitantly, slowly slipping into the persona of a cowardly boy. "Are you the doctor?"

A hand shot out towards him. "Name's Shamal," said the man around a cigarette. "What seems to be the problem?"

Tsuna took the hand."Well, I have one cut on my knee, one on my arm here, and I've been bitten by a snake," said Tsuna, crouching beside Gokudera and pressing a palm gently against the other boy's forehead. "Is he going to be okay?" He felt a slight itch on the back of his neck and nearly managed to kill the preying mosquito with a slap of his arm.

Shamal threw him a glare and called his mosquito back. Tsuna grimaced in disbelief. He hadn't been daydreaming! This guy really did communicate with mosquitos!

"He'll be fine," said Shamal. "Won't be able to move his body for a couple of days but he'll live. And Annie here says that you're completely fine. No trace of venom in your blood."

Tsuna didn't understand. Why would Mukuro attack with venomless snakes? Unless, he hadn't intended to hurt him from the beginning. Just as well, he supposed. After all, Mukuro needed Tsuna to rescue him. Tsuna wouldn't be much use if he was immobilised by snake venom. Tsuna held out his arm and knee to be bandaged and thanked Shamal.

"No, don't thank me," snapped Shamal. "I can't believe I'm reduced to treating males! The absurdity of it! Reborn better keep his end of the deal!" Shamal snapped his medical bag close with a loud click. Tsuna appropriately guessed that Shamal was probably one of those unbalanced types too.

"_Tsunayoshi._"

Tsuna paused. Did he just hear Mukuro's voice in his head? Wait a minute, just because he gave access to Mukuro to possess him if he didn't fulfill his promise didn't mean he wanted the mental case to be slipping in and out of his mind whenever he liked!

"_Maybe you should have thought about that before you pricked yourself on my trident,_" the low voice chuckled. "_As it were, I can only speak to you like this when the body I am projecting my presence onto is close by. Nagi is walking towards you now. That is why you can hear me._"

Tsuna whirled around and saw Nagi, flagged by Reborn, Dino and Romario, marching towards him. He saw the handcuffs on Nagi's wrists and frowned. He didn't like this but he couldn't do anything. It was either let Reborn her or take her himself and have no idea what to do with her.

"Oh, what an intense look you're sending her, Tsuna," jibed Dino with a good-natured grin. "Is she the girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend? No. What are you talking about?"

"I came her searching for you, Tsuna," said Dino. "One of your classmates said you have a girlfriend who goes to Kokuyo. If this girl isn't her then where is she?"

Tsuna raised an eyebrow at this ridiculous man. Did he really expect Tsuna to produce a girl amidst the ruins of an abandoned theme park? Besides, that girlfriend was a lie made up by Yamamoto!

"I'm afraid it is I!" said Mukuro, suddenly appearing and stepping into the frenzy. "I am Tsunayoshi's intended."

Tsuna's eye twitched. _What the hell?_

"...I have to say I didn't see that coming," said Shamal, from the side.

"It's not true," said Tsuna patiently.

"As expected of the person who is to succeed the Vongola. You have unique tastes, Tsuna-kun," said Dino.

"I told you IT'S NOT TRUE!" Tsuna exploded at Dino. Really, everyone's been pushing his buttons today; Reborn and this stupid mission, Gokudera and his passiveness towards life, Mukuro and his odd ways of negotiating and now this air-headed blond Italian. _This _was the Bucking Horse? Tsuna felt all his dissatisfaction curl up into one huge ball inside him, which ignited at Dino's final line.

"Who did you say was going to succeed the Vongola? If you guys like that _clam_ so much then why don't you become the next boss, huh? And you!" he cried, pointing at Dino. "Stop calling me Tsuna! We're not close! I don't know you at all! The only reason Gokudera and I came here was to save your stupid arse, which apparently didn't need any saving. So would all of you, please _LEAVE ME ALONE!_"

Tsuna stormed away angrily, blissfully unaware at how much laughter his little temper tantrum had riled up.

Romario wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his coat. "Oh, he got you there, boss."

"Shut up," said Dino, chuckling himself. "Did you see how his cheeks puffed up when he became angry? He looked like a furious little hamster!"

"We may need to fix that a bit before he becomes the boss," said Reborn, stroking his chin in thought.

Shamal looked pointedly at the hitman. "You remembered your promise, didn't you, Reborn?"

"You're such a lech, Shamal," groaned Dino.

"Don't worry. The women will be waiting for you in your hotel room," said Reborn.

Shamal clapped his hands gleefully and left quickly. Meanwhile, Mukuro had disappeared when no one was paying attention, leaving Nagi staring at the commotion, wide-eyed. Reborn turned to her. "You can communicate with Mukuro, right?" Nagi nodded. "Then, ask him something for me. What are his intentions towards Tsuna? If he merely wanted to use him, there is no need for the endearments."

Nagi closed her eyes for a while and then, opened them and said, "He says he doesn't not wish to tell you."

Reborn smirked. "No matter. I will find out eventually. Just tell remind him that I am indebted to the Vongola. And that my underground repertoire is just as long and dark as his."

In the darkness of his water cell, Rokudo Mukuro pursed his lips.

**

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_Tsuzuku..._

(To be continued)


	3. three

**pairing **8027, slight ReboLam

**a/n **err, guys, I'm glad you're still reading this but if you like it, it wouldn't hurt to leave a little feedback, would it? Talk about a stab to the self-esteem ^^;

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Tsuna didn't remember much of what happened after he left Kokuyo. There had been the bus ride, alone - because Gokudera and Shamal had disappeared by the time Tsuna returned to them - and filled with passengers, who were alarmed by the blood on his arm. When he arrived home, he had stayed conscious long enough only to go up to his room and bandage his wound before pitching forward in exhaustion.

He woke up the next morning on the floor to the hellish buzz of his alarm. He groaned as he got up to switch it off. Sleeping in that position had given him a kink in the neck. He rolled his head from side to side in attempt to loosen it as he padded towards the bathroom and ran a mental checklist of his homework assignments. That was when he remembered that he had skipped his classes yesterday and most likely, had failed his entire grade.

Tsuna pulled himself up the sink listlessly as he considered his situation from now on. He really didn't want to repeat an entire grade. Bad enough he had to be a loser, but a loser who got held back a year? Maybe he should go and beg mercy from his class teacher or something, he thought as he turned the knob of the shower and stepped out of his dirty uniform.

"Be careful not to get your wounds wet, Tenth."

Tsuna let out a yell of surprise and skidded on the slippery tiles. He grabbed on to the shower curtain for balance, which proved to be a bad idea when it gave way under his weight and sent him tumbling clumsily into the bathtub. Tsuna groaned in pain. He lifted his head and saw Gokudera towering above him, mouth agape with speechlessness.

"I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed and attempted to help Tsuna up.

Tsuna took his hand and demanded, "What are you doing here? How did you even get in?"

"Your mother let me in, Tenth. I told her I was your subordinate."

"Don't tell her weird things like that!" said Tsuna shrilly. "Why are you here?"

"I - I..." The Italian lowered his eyes to the floor guiltily. "I merely stopped by to check up on you, Tenth. And maybe...perhaps...I could walk with you to school."

"Why?"

"To - to ensure your safety," stammered Gokudera. "To make sure that no one harms you during your journey."

"Someone just harmed me in my bathroom," Tsuna pointed out.

He jumped in surprise when Gokudera fell onto his knees and touched his forehead repeatedly to the ground. "My apologies, Tenth! I only wanted to help you prevent further harm seeing as your wounds are all my fault!"

"What? No, they're not."

"If I were strong enough, you wouldn't have been in any danger yesterday," said Gokudera.

Tsuna stared at him like a deer in headlights. Gokudera's attitude towards him had taken a complete one-eighty and then some. Gone was the touch, dynamite-wielding badass who was convinced that Tsuna was some unworthy loser. Tsuna wasn't sure yet if he liked the drastic change.

"Listen, that wasn't your fault," insisted Tsuna. I should've gone with you in the first place. If anything, it was _my_ fault you nearly died. Speaking of which, you and Shamal disappeared yesterday. What happened?"

"Ah yes, about that." Gokudera looked away sheepishly. "I regained consciousness shortly after Shamal cured me and had to go settle a few affairs with my landlady. I'm so sorry for causing you to worry, Tenth."

"I wish you wouldn't call me that. How are your wounds?"

Gokudera brightened up visibly. "I am completely healed, Tenth," he added, before he could stop himself.

Tsuna shook his head mirthfully. "That's good. Now get your head off my floor and get out unless you want to watch me shower."

"I would like to remain here and make sure you do not unnecessarily hurt yourself while showering, if that's alright by you, Tenth," said Gokudera with all seriousness.

Tsuna gaped. "No, it's not! _Get out!_"

**

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**Saluta Morte de Parte Mia**

**26 April 2010**

**

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**

"We're running," said Tsuna, putting on his shoes and taking up his bag. "I need to consult our teacher before class starts to see if he'll let me stay on and do extra credits instead of retaking the whole grade."

"I see. If that's the case, then we should use this." Gokudera gestured at the bicycle parked in front of Tsuna's house.

Tsuna blinked bewilderedly. That was surprisingly convenient.

He hopped onto the back of the bicycle and held on for dear life as Gokudera sped towards school with an energy an injured man should not have. "I said hurry to school! Not escape the apocalypse!" yelled Tsuna as Gokudera made a turn so sharp Tsuna nearly flew off the bike.

He dug his arms around Gokudera's middle and tried to stomach the feeling of vertigo as his new friend pedaled so hard his feet blurred. The people in front gave them a wide berth. When Gokudera made a wrong turn, Tsuna opened his mouth but Gokudera cut in. "Don't worry, Tenth. This is a shortcut."

He sped towards a long flight of stairs and began _pedaling up it_. Tsuna's eyes grew impossibly wide with disbelief and decided that Gokudera was not human. More turns at a heart-stopping speed and they arrived.

"We're here, Tenth!" announced Gokudera, screeching to a halt in front of the school.

Tsuna blinked uncomprehendingly. Five minutes. It had taken Gokudera five minutes to get from his house to the school. That had to be some sort of record. He peeled his arms off Gokudera's abdomen and shakily got to his feet. "I am never riding with you again," he declared softly to Gokudera's heartbroken face.

"But-"

"_Never_."

"TSUNA!"

Tsuna turned when he saw the red-haired Naito running towards him with a gigantic grin on his face. He normally found the sight of Naito to be annoying but after everything that happened yesterday, a little bit of normalcy was soothing. Tsuna greeted him with a friendly smile. "What's up, Naito?"

"Tsuna, you never got to see my mustard collection!" cried Naito, waving a fistful of mustard packets in his hand. "You have to come over to-"

A couple of lit dynamites fell in front of him and exploded, sending him flying. Naito fell backwards, temporarily passed out with that goofy grin still on his face. Tsuna gaped at the unexpected turn of events and groaned, "Gokudera!"

"Yes, Tenth?" said Gokudera, hiding his hands behind his back.

"You do not blow up the people at school!"

"But that guy is from the Tomaso family! He could have easily been a thre-"

"I know who he is! And he hasn't hurt me in the one hundred and twenty-nine days that I've known him before you came!" exclaimed Tsuna. He rushed over to Naito's side and was nearly pierced by a gunshot.

"Move away from Naito-sama, Vongola!" screamed one of Naito's bodyguards from his usual perch on the school rooftop with his rifle.

"Shut up, stupid bodyguard!" Tsuna yelled back. "I'm taking Naito to the infirmary!"

"I'll take care of him," said Gokudera, looking at the rooftop bodyguard.

"No, you won't. You will go to class and you will do nothing until I get there."

"But -"

"_Go._"

Gokudera bowed his head, looking suitably chastised, and walked towards class. About the same time, the school bell rang. Tsuna sighed to himself. All that time during which he could have gone and consulted his teacher was wasted by this ridiculous commotion. He pulled Naito's arm over his shoulder and hauled him up.

Tsuna flinched when he felt a sharp pang in his left arm. His wound from yesterday had reopened. Could this morning get any worse?

"What are you doing?"

Yes it could.

Tsuna lifted his gaze and saw the sharp, narrow gaze of Hibari staring down at him. For the past year or so, Tsuna had found it relatively easy to avoid the volatile prefect but with the recent additions in his life (namely, one or two Italian mob-hired assassins), it was like he couldn't help but run into Hibari. _Maybe if I lie down and pretend to be dead, he will leave me alone._

"Get to class, herbivore."

"Getting there," replied Tsuna, knees buckling a little as he shifted Naito's weight onto himself.

Hibari raised one tonfa-wielding arm. "You better be there in the next five minutes or I'll bite you to death."

"Someone already did that for you," muttered Tsuna, wincing at he exerted more strength on his wounded arm. The blood was beginning to seep through the bandages. He wondered if he actually needed stitches seeing as he was rather careless with Mukuro's trident yesterday.

Suddenly, Tsuna felt Naito's heavy weight lift off him. He stared as Hibari took the unconscious boy away from him and tossed him - _actually tossed him!_ - to one of his pompadour-sporting lackeys. He expertly deflected a rifle bullet from Naito's rooftop bodyguard with one raised tonfa. "Kusakabe will take care of him. You - report to the the nurse's office."

"Hibari-san?" Tsuna looked up questioningly.

"As much as I like the colour, blood red is not part of the Namimori uniform. Fix that before you ruin the aestheticism of the school." Hibari turned and stalked off, the wind blowing in the black jacket loosely draped over his shoulders making for a more dramatic effect.

One hand covering the blossoming spot of blood on his arm, Tsuna hobbled towards the nurse's office, hoping the odd morning would yield to a peaceful day.

**X**

The nurse's office was on the second floor, down the left corridor, only a few doors away from the teacher's staff room, which was convenient because Tsuna really needed to talk with the teacher in charge of his class. He contemplated visiting him instead of going to the nurse first when a shrill scream came from the nurse's room. A hysterically frightened girl stomped out, pulling her skirt low over her thighs. To Tsuna's utmost horror, a familiar figure appeared at the door with a lecherous sneer over his stubbled chin.

"Shamal?" exclaimed Tsuna. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm the new school nurse," said the Italian man, delightfully. If he had a mustache, he would curl it.

Tsuna could hardly hide his alarm. "Why?"

"Well, part of my job is to watch over you and kill anyone who tries to harm you but..." Shamal stuck a finger into his ear lazily, his cheer having disappeared with the short-skirted girl's departure. "But I don't really care." _Since you're a guy._

It's not like Tsuna hasn't heard of Trident Shamal and his rule of never treating men. Yesterday's incident was probably a once-in-a-blue-moon thing.

"So what are you doing here?" asked Shamal.

Tsuna showed him his wounded arm but Shamal made no move to assist him. Tsuna shook his head. "Forget it. You'd probably try and stitch me up with a fork and angel noodles. Just lend me a sterilised needle when I get back from the teacher's room. I need to settle some things."

"If you're talking about your attendance record, Reborn already asked me to straighten that out for you."

Tsuna did a double take. "What?"

"You were one absent day from failing the grade, right? Well, Reborn had me write you a note for sick leave yesterday, so you're still in the green zone, Vongola," said Shamal.

"And the school actually accepted your note?" asked Tsuna dubiously, ignoring the nickname.

"Hey, I'm a certified doctor," said Shamal smugly. "Besides, you were on mafia business. That warrants you an automatic leave from school."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" huffed Tsuna. "Thanks, though."

"I don't want thanks from a guy."

"Then pretend I'm a girl with a short, short skirt and long eyelashes."

Shamal squinted, narrowing his eyes till they were barely open. "I can see that actually. You wouldn't look half bad in a girl's uniform."

"Don't even," warned Tsuna. "Now where is that needle?"

**X**

The class was uproarious when he returned. There was no teacher present in the room and instead, standing in front of the class was Sasagawa Ryohei, captain of the boxing club, who definitely _not_ a student of this class. He beat his hand fervently on the blackboard on which he had written clearly in white chalk: BUN KA SAI!

"No Good Tsuna, you're just in time!" exclaimed Ryohei loudly, looping an arm around Tsuna and shaking him vigorously. "We're just about to choose what we should do for the cultural festival that's in an extreme three weeks! This year, our class is going to win the prize for best class presentation!"

"But you're not a student of this class," pointed out Tsuna as he struggled to get out of his grip. He had never spoken to Ryohei before and could only guess that he must've heard about him from his sister, Kyoko.

Ryohei continued on as if Tsuna had not spoken. "We will win this competition to the extreme!" And the class, fired up by his promise, pumped fists into the air and cheered in agreement.

Tsuna shuffled to his seat and was half-tackled by his new silver-haired friend. "Tenth, are you alright?"

"I am. Let me go," said Tsuna, nudging Gokudera out of his personal space. "I just got some stitches for my arm, that's all."

"Stitches? What happened, Tsuna?" Yamamoto stepped in, his face full of concern.

"Go away. This doesn't concern you," said Gokudera rudely.

"Gokudera," chided Tsuna gently. _Be nice_, was his silent order. Tsuna turned to Yamamoto with a sheepish expression. "I accidentally cut myself yesterday." He showed the tall baseball player his freshly-bandaged arm.

"Was this when you got your stomachache?"

"Stomachache?" echoed Tsuna bewilderedly before remembering the excuse he used to get out of class. "Err, no. Not exactly."

"What about this? You got wounds on your other arm too!"

Those were the puncture wounds left by Mukuro's snake but since they weren't poisonous, Tsuna had just smeared some antiseptic over them. "A lot of things happened yesterday. Anyway, what is Sasagawa Ryohei doing in our class?"

"Oh, he stopped by to see his sister but then we got into discussing the cultural festival and he sort of ended up leading the whole thing," laughed Yamamoto. "No one seems to want to stop him. Our class monitor's a lazy guy, after all."

Tsuna's eyes flitted towards said class monitor, who was chatting up a few girls at the back of the classroom. Yep, they weren't going to get much help from there.

"By the way, I don't think we've properly introduced ourselves," said Yamamoto, turning to Gokudera, who had been scowling heavily at his back. "I'm Yamamoto Takeshi. I'm in the baseball team."

"Gokudera Hayato," said the arsonist reluctantly. "I'm in the Vongola family."

Tsuna was glad he wasn't drinking anything because he definitely would've had a spit-take from that.

"Vongola family? What's that?" asked Yamamoto.

Gokudera growled, "How can you not know the Vongola family, you idiot? We're the largest and most influential family, holding the central position in the Alliance!"

"Alliance? Are you talking about History?"

"You baseball idio-"

"Gokudera, stop!" pleaded Tsuna. "Yamamoto-san doesn't know anything about the mafia so -"

"THAT'S IT! We'll have a mafia-themed cafe!" roared Ryohei suddenly, drawing all three boys' attention to him.

Tsuna gaped. "Come again?"

"Every school's done a maid cafe or a cosplay cafe before. But we will do a mafia cafe, to the extreme!" yelled Ryohei vigorously.

"Does that mean we all get to wear those really smart suits?" asked one boy excitedly.

"And those cool-looking fedoras! I think my older brother has one!" chimed in his friend.

"What about the girls? What would we wear?"

"The girls that hang out with the mafia usually dress very glamorously, right?"

"And we can totally turn our classroom into a dark, mafia dangerous setting!"

As the voices escalated with excitement and anticipation, Tsuna deflated even further. A mafia cafe? Who has ever heard of such a thing? Plus, what in the world was a 'mafia dangerous setting'? But with his classmates so pumped up, Tsuna thought it cruel to dissuade them. Doing a cafe did sound fun and unlike a maid cafe, the guys could have fun dressing up as well.

And it's not like real mafiosi were going to show up at their cultural festival cafe anyway.

Well, except Gokudera, speaking of whom, was standing up. Dread climbed up Tsuna's throat. Why was Gokudera standing up?

"I nominate the Tenth to be in charge of this mafia cafe!" said the arsonist loudly. Tsuna buried his head and wished desperately for the earth to open up and swallow him up right now because there was no way Gokudera just recommended him to lead a class event. "Since he's going to lead the Vongola one day, this will be a cinch for him!"

The girls swooned. "Of course. Anything you say, Gokudera-kun."

"Who's the Tenth?" asked one boy.

"I think he means Tsuna," said Yamamoto.

The entire class chorused in a yell of disbelief.

"No Good Tsuna? There's no way we're going to let No Good Tsuna be in charge!"

"He'll wreck the whole thing!"

"If No Good Tsuna is in charge, I'm not joining this thing!"

Gokudera growled dangerously and brandished large sticks of dynamites at all of them. "How dare you impugn the Tenth in front of me!" He moved to light the explosives but Tsuna quickly grabbed his wrist and shot him a meaningful look. "Tenth," Gokudera started, but Tsuna shook his head.

"You want to be my subordinate, Gokudera? Try following my orders without question then," said Tsuna in a low voice so that only Gokudera could hear him.

Gokudera released a small sigh and kept his weapons. "As you wish, Tenth."

Tsuna sighed with relief as Gokudera took his seat again. He could feel the questioning stares of his classmates, probably wondering when he and Gokudera became friends seeing as it was only yesterday morning when the two of them were fighting in the hallway.

_No one would believe the truth even if I told them._

The class was coming down from the uneasy commotion when, Yamamoto said, "I think Tsuna would make a good leader."

Tsuna whipped his head toward the baseball player in surprise.

"Me too," added Kyoko, smiling.

"Well, if my sister says No Good Tsuna is fit to be leader, then he should, to the extreme!" declared Ryohei.

Tsuna expected the class to riot again but to his surprise, they didn't. The girls decided that if both Yamamoto and Gokudera were taking his side, then it would be okay if they did too and the boys didn't want to refute either, now that their goddess, Kyoko, had expressed her opinion. By odd circumstances, Tsuna suddenly found himself in charge of his class' booth for the cultural festival.

Maybe he should've let Gokudera blow up his classmates after all.

**X**

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around how this happened. I mean, for _years_ I go unnoticed as No Good Tsuna and suddenly I'm the person-in charge? Stop laughing!" Tsuna threw an octopus-shaped wiener at Lambo.

It was lunch and as usual, the two friends were on the rooftop, exchanging stories. Lambo, for his part, already knew the gist of what had happened to Tsuna yesterday. He had a secret source from whom he got all his information and for the life of him, Tsuna couldn't get him to divulge who it was. Lambo was also slightly amused when he found out that Tsuna now hated Reborn with all his heart.

"He's not hard to hate, that one," the Italian teen admitted. "I'm probably the only one who's stupid enough to be properly in love with him. Anyway, where is Smokin' Bomb? I heard that he's been sticking to you like a leech since yesterday."

"I ditched him when class ended. I told him to go get some juice for me before sneaking up here."

Lambo lifted his eyebrow. "Are you sure that's a good idea? He must be going hysterical looking for you."

An explosive went odd below them, shaking the foundation of the building. Tsuna could've sworn that he heard Gokudera's angry roar amidst the frightened screams, but chose to ignore it. "I've been ambushed by Vongola acquaintances all day since yesterday. I think I'm entitled to one moment of malice. And speaking of good ideas..." Tsuna picked up the small brown paper bag sitting beside Lambo. "I don't think this is one."

Lambo snatched the bag away defensively. "I'm going to visit him today and it feels rude to drop in without a welcome gift."

"I think Reborn's the type who would be more delighted i you welcomed him with a Glock," quipped Tsuna. "What's in there anyway?"

"Dark Colombian coffee beans."

"Sounds expensive."

"They are."

Tsuna sighed and reclined against the hard floor of the rooftop so that the entire expanse of sky laid before his eyes. "You are such a sucker when it comes to him."

"And congratulations to you on getting your first subordinate," retorted Lambo blithely. He chuckled when Tsuna tried to kick him from his position.

Suddenly, the door burst open, revealing a panting and sweaty Gokudera with a carton of orange juice in his hand. There was blood dripping down the side of his face but he didn't seem to pay it any mind. "Tenth, I brought you your juice!" he said triumphantly.

Tsuna lifted himself on his elbows and frowned. "I wanted apple juice." He cracked when he saw Gokudera's jaw hang with despair and beckoned the silver-haired Italian over. "I'm joking. Sit down. I saved some of my wieners for you."

**X**

Yamamoto sucked in a deep breath and pressed the doorbell. His hand shook a little; not because of the heavy platter of takeaway sushi in his arms, and definitely not because of the slight muscle strain he obtained from baseball practice earlier. Such things were negligible to him. No, the reason he was shaking because he was nervous as hell.

He swallowed as he heard footsteps and the door opened, revealing a brown-haired woman with Tsuna's large eyes. "Yes?" she asked politely.

Yamamoto slapped a smile onto his face. "Hi, my name's Yamamoto. I'm a friend of Tsuna's."

"Ah yes, Tsuna's upstairs." The woman beckoned him inside and closed the door. "Tsuna! Your friend is here!" she announced lightly.

"I don't have any friends!" came Tsuna's disembodied reply. Yamamoto's heart twitched a little in guilt. He knew Tsuna wasn't the most popular guy in school but to the extent of not having any friends? What about that new transfer student? And the Sasagawa girl seemed to like him okay.

"Don't be silly, Tsuna!" The woman then turned to Yamamoto and said, "You can go on upstairs. His room is on the left."

"By the way..." Yamamoto held up the box of sushi before her. "A gift from my father."

"Oh my, isn't this generous!" gushed Tsuna's mother happily.

"Not really. We own a sushi restaurant so this is nothing," Yamamoto assured her. He went up the stairs and knocked on the door to Tsuna's room, hands sweating nervously.

He'd never done this before. Sure, he was popular at school so a lot of girls liked him. But this was the first time he liked someone else. And to make things worse, this someone else was a guy! Did things still worked the same way if he wanted to woo someone of the same sex? Love letters? Flowers? Chocolates?

In the end, Yamamoto decided to take the opportunity the cultural festival had given him to get closer to Tsuna. If that brash Italian transfer student could be good friends with Tsuna, then so could he! After he heard Tsuna's "Come in!", he turned the doorknob, a ready grin on his face.

"Hey Tsuna!"

Tsuna was sitting on the floor by knee-high table, his notes spread out before him and a mug of steaming coffee at his side. He lifted his head, eyes widening slightly in surprise. "Yamamoto-san? What are you doing here?"

Yamamoto smiled and repeated the lines he had rehearsed in front of the mirror before he came. "Now that you're in charge of our class event for the festival, I thought I'd help you out a bit. You can't plan the entire thing on your own, right?"

Tsuna grinned widely at the unexpected gesture of considerateness. Yamamoto did a little victory dance in his head. He made a right choice in coming here! "That's really nice of you, Yamamoto-san," said Tsuna. "Why are you still standing by the door? Come in!" Tsuna gestured for him to sit next to him and pushed his notes to one side. "Well, to be honest, I haven't gotten started on anything yet. I kind of expected Gokudera-kun to help me out a bit since I'm no good at this sort of stuff."

Yamamoto sat down and took out some papers listing information he had asked some of his mates to help prepare. "Since we're doing a themed cafe, the first thing we need is costumes, right? My friend found this place near Akiba that rents out suits and dresses rather cheaply. Students usually go there from prom clothes but I think we can use that."

Tsuna pulled the papers towards him and scanned through it. He nodded, "Yeah, this place sounds good. We should go check it out this weekend. See if we can't haggle their rates a little."

Yamamoto felt a flush of pleasure go through him. 'We'. Tsuna said 'we', which meant he fully expected Yamamoto to come with him, right?

Yamamoto continued, "But costumes aside, we have to look at food as well; where to set up the equipment to cook the food, what type of food to serve, and what type of extra attraction to offer. If we're going to call it a mafia cafe, we can't just put our classmates up in costumes and be done. I say we put a shooting gallery in a corner and a poster of a police line-up against the board or something."

Tsuna nodded. "That sounds good. But is it doable?"

"I know the guy who sets up the throwing gallery for local festivals. Maybe I can ask him to set up shop in our class," suggested Yamamoto.

"They should've put you in charge instead of me," chuckled Tsuna. "You seem to have it all together without my help."

"Well, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have bothered putting all of this together," blurted out Yamamoto unthinkingly.

Tsuna did a small double take. "What?"

But Yamamoto was saved from answering when Gokudera suddenly burst into the room with a happy grin on his face. "Tenth, I have returned the bike as you have ordered me!" he announced happily.

Yamamoto looked at Tsuna bewilderedly. "Bike?"

"Yeah, apparently the bike he used to fetch me to school this morning was one he'd stolen from someone else in the neighbourhood. I asked him to give it back," explained Tsuna.

Gokudera's mood took a sharp dive when he saw Yamamoto sitting next to Tsuna. "What is _he_ doing here?"

"Yamamoto-san is here to help with the cultural festival event," said Tsuna.

"You don't need that baseball idiot's help, Tenth! We're doing a mafia cafe and there's no way he knows more about the mafia than me!" insisted Gokudera. "By the way, Tenth, I ran into your venerable mother on the way up. She told me to ask you if you wanted any sushi before your venerable father finished all of it."

Yamamoto grimaced a bit. That must be his sushi Gokudera was talking about. He had meant to save all of it for Tsuna.

"You saw my father?" asked Tsuna with disbelief.

"Yes," replied Gokudera with a confused expression. He was eating in the living room.

"So he's back," muttered Tsuna, then to Gokudera and Yamamoto he said, "Will you excuse me for a while? I need to speak with my father."

Gokudera and Yamamoto watched in surprise as Tsuna jumped to his feet and stalked out the door in a hurry.

Silence stretched in the room after Tsuna's room. Yamamoto tried his best to pretend nothing was wrong but Gokudera was still glaring heavily at him, as if he had encroached on his territory or something. He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Err.. so what do you think they're they talking about?" asked Yamamoto, referring to Tsuna and his father.

"Probably some mafia business," replied Gokudera. "Nothing an outsider like you should concern yourself with."

"You mean that Vongola family thing you mentioned this morning?" asked Yamamoto. "Is that the name of your team for an online game or something? If it is, can I join? I'm pretty good at games."

Gokudera's glare intensified, if that was possible. "What makes you think you can join just because you want to? You have to prove yourself before you can enter the family, baseball idiot."

"And who are you to lecture him, Gokudera Hayato? As I recall, you failed Tsuna, didn't you?"

The two boys drew back in surprise at the sudden appearance of the suit-clad man by the window. He was sprawled languidly across the edge of the windowsill as if it was the most comfortable place on earth. He tilted his head, the fedora casting mysterious shadows over the sharp planes of his face even in the daytime, and smirked. "You must be Yamamoto Takeshi. Are you interested in becoming Vongola?"

Yamamoto stared bewilderedly at the stranger. How did he manage to get up there without them noticing? Did he climb the walls or something?

"But Reborn-san, he's a civilian!" protested Gokudera.

"He has potential," the man retorted.

Yamamoto swallowed. Whoever this man was, he felt dangerous, and he didn't like the way he was being looked at right now. Like he was fresh meat. He cleared him throat. "I'm not sure what all this is...but Tsuna is part of this Vongola game, right?"

Reborn's smirk grew wider. "More than he ever wanted. If things go according to plan. Tsuna will become the next boss. So what will it be, Yamamoto Takeshi? Do you want to become part of Tsuna's Vongola family?"

Yamamoto looked at Reborn. There was no joke in this man's eyes. And Gokudera, whom Yamamoto had thought was rude, brash and fearless, was strangely silent. The atmosphere in the room that had been awkward before was now filled with heavy tension. This wasn't normal. He'd seen guys take online games seriously before but this was a whole other level. What had Tsuna gotten himself into?

"You don't have to give me an immediate answer," said Reborn. "But the offer is limited one. You have three weeks to think about it. However, I have to warn you, Yamamoto Takeshi. Once you reject this offer, a similar one will not be given and any chance you have of entering the Vongola in future is unlikely."

Yamamoto swallowed nervously. "H-how will I find you to give you my answer?"

"I will be attending your silly mafia cafe at the school festival. You can give me an answer then." Reborn slid off the windowsill with the grace of a feline and crossed the room towards the door. Along the way, he gave Yamamoto a meaningful sidelong glance. "It's been a pleasure meeting you."

Yamamoto felt his breath leave his body the moment Reborn left the room. He'd never felt pressure like that. He'd barely noticed that he had sweated through his shirt. He turned to Gokudera who was pursing his lips with displeasure. "You look like you want to say something," said Yamamoto.

Gokudera looked at him, eyes full of seriousness. "If I were you, I would not accept that offer. Being part of the Vongola is not a good idea."

"Why? You're in it, aren't you?"

"That's because I was born into this world. Joining a family is all I know. But you're a civilian. You're ill-equipped. I don't know what Reborn-san sees in you but I don't think it's enough."

"How are you so sure? You've only known me for one day. For all you know, I could be very good at this game," challenged Yamamoto.

Gokudera frowned. "You know, we're not just throwing around the word for fun. We're real."

Yamamoto lifted an eyebrow."Real? You mean you guys are like those pro gamers?"

Gokudera stood up, nearly knocking the table over, whipped out a handgun and pressed the muzzle against Yamamoto's forehead before the other boy could do anything. He released the safety with a loud click and growled, "Yeah, we're pros alright. But if you really still think this is a game, then I should just shoot and save Reborn the trouble of accidentally recruiting an idiot." His finger hovered dangerously over the trigger. "Don't even try to kid yourself by thinking this is a fake. You can smell the gunfire residue, can't you? I still have three more shots in the magazine. That's more than enough to lessen the level of stupidity in this world."

"Gokudera, wait," pleaded Yamamoto. "You're being irrational. You can't just shoot me because I misunderstood something!"

The silver-haired boy scoffed. "Try me."

**X**

Tsuna glared at his father with barely repressed anger. The man was sprawled across the couch, snoring loudly with a half-empty platter of sushi on his stomach. He wanted to have words with his father, about Mukuro, his sudden departure from the country and Reborn's business with him, and was half-tempted to just toss his father off the couch to wake him up.

Then, he noticed Iemitsu's mobile phone lying idly on the coffee table. He picked it up and looked around surreptitiously to see if anyone had seen him. His mother was busy in the kitchen, no doubt whipping up another feast for Iemitsu, and Gokudera and Yamamoto were both safely upstairs.

Tsuna took the phone and closed himself in the downstairs bathroom. He scrolled down Iemitsu's contact list until he reached a familiar name. _Timoteo._

He had more than enough reason to call: he had promised Mukuro he would negotiate Ken and Chikusa's imprisonment, he wanted to ask what Gokudera and Dino were doing here in Japan, but most of all, Tsuna just missed his surrogate grandfather. WIth all that he had done, it was more than likely that Timoteo would be rather cross with Tsuna. But a promise was a promise.

Tsuna held his breath and pressed the 'call' button. His heart pounded five times with every ring of the dial tone. Three years. It's been three years since he last seen or heard his voice. Finally, the line was picked up. Tsuna dared not breathe as the person on the other line spoke. "_Buongiorno._"

Tsuna didn't speak. If he did, he was sure his voice would crack. Timoteo sounded so hoarse. So old. Tsuna felt his conscious stabbing at the bottommost parts of his heart. _He_ did this. He was the one who wearied the old man. Tsuna tried to swallow the hard lump in his throat.

"_Hello?_" asked Timoteo, confused as the lack of reply. "_Iemitsu, are you there?_"

With a shuddering breath, Tsuna mustered all of his courage into the next few words. "Timoteo-jiichan...it's me."

There was silence. And then...

"_Tsuna._"

Tsuna felt a rush of warmth. He didn't know how Timoteo managed to put so much love into one word but he could feel it all. He felt stabbed by more guilty arrows when he heard Timoteo cough. "Jiichan, are you okay?"

"_I'm fine._" His wheeze translated as a loud crackle over the phone. "_I've missed you, Tsuna. How are you?_"

"Horrible," said Tsuna in a mock obnoxious voice. He smiled when he heard the old man chuckle. "I've missed you too. Actually, there're so many things I have to ask you about -"

Tsuna dropped the phone when he heard a gunshot go off upstairs. He tore the bathroom door open and to his surprise, saw Reborn leaning against the opposite wall. "What did you do?!" Tsuna demanded, panicked.

Reborn smirked so widely it was almost a grin. "I stirred the pot."

* * *

_Tsuzuku_

_To be continued...._


	4. four

**pairing** 8027, 1827

**Author's Notes:** I have to admit, I'm surprised at how many people don't like 8057. I've actually got people asking me to make this fic exclusively 8027 - but I appreciated any and all feedback this story has gotten. Every single review makes my heart soar a little bit and encourages me to make the next chapter even better. So thanks, everyone, and I hope you enjoy this chapter as well! (Sorry in advance for any typos or grammar errors.)

* * *

Yamamoto breathed a sigh of relief. He'd really thought he was going to die. It was a good thing Gokudera believed him in the end and shifted the muzzle of the gun just as he fired. The bullet had grazed the air two centimeters from Yamamoto's left ear and embedded itself into Tsuna's bedroom wall.

Two centimeters was still too close for comfort but at least Gokudera appeared to be less deranged now. "So," he said conversationally, as if he hasn't just nearly tried to kill his classmate, "not such a baseball idiot, after all."

Yamamoto's smile was a little strained. It was either believe that Tsuna and Gokudera were part of a real Italian mafia family or be given a third nostril. Not much of an option there. "I didn't imagine that Tsuna was involved in something so big."

"To be fair, the Tenth wasn't given much of a choice," said Gokudera, righting the table and dropping to sit opposite Yamamoto. "_Signore_ Timoteo only told me half of what was going on when he sent me here. Then I found out what the Tenth had been hiding and - well, now I feel like a piece of shit for harassing him in the beginning."

Yamamoto perked up curiously. "Secret? What secret?" What else was Tsuna hiding?

"Oh no you don't," growled Gokudera. "The Tenth will tell you himself if he wants you to know. But that aside, you should really think carefully about Mr. Reborn's offer. Now that's you know what the Vongola is, I won't be surprised if you reject the offer. But if you do, you should start staying away from the Tenth."

"What? Why?"

"Think about it, meathead. If you reject the offer, it means that you don't want to be part of our world. But if you continue spending time with the Tenth, you will be dragged into it anyway. Because the Tenth is who he is, he will try and protect you. But the rest of us will not be so kind. Our priority will be the Tenth and then the family. You will be just a footnote in our heads. As such, your chances of survival are pretty slim."

"So, what you're saying is that even if I don't join the Vongola, which on its own is a dangerous risk, I can't hang out with Tsuna either because people will try to kill me?"

"Yeah. That is what the situation might evolve to," said Gokudera with a solemn nod.

"But that's not fair! Tsuna's my friend. Why -"

"There is no justice or fairness in our world, you naive simpleton," snapped Gokudera, making a face as if he was saying a distasteful word. "If you want it, you have to get it yourself. Otherwise, there's is only getting the work done and hoping you'll come out fine in the end. Consider this a lucky break for you. Consider yourself lucky that you were given a warning beforehand."

Yamamoto frowned. "Weren't you?"

"My family is mafia. There's no way I can get out," said Gokudera somberly. "But I've already learned to deal with it - both the good and the bad. Usually, there is more bad than good. But ever since I met the Tenth, I've been trying to believe that the opposite can be true. The Tenth - Tsuna's the best thing that ever happened to me."

Yamamoto stiffened uncomfortably. How was he supposed to compete with that?

At that moment, Tsuna barged into the room, panting and face red with exertion. "What was that? What happened? Who shot?" he demanded incoherently with a mobile phone gripped hard in his left hand.

Gokudera immediately slipped into a sunny disposition that didn't match his words. "I was just showing the baseball idiot here my gun, Tenth! He didn't believe it was real so I shot him. I missed though," he added with slight dismay. Yamamoto admired how the silver-haired arsonist was telling the truth, and yet not.

Yamamoto jerked a little when Tsuna turned to him for confirmation. He nodded along nervously.

"Don't do that!" cried Tsuna plaintively at Gokudera, sinking to the floor with relief. "I was so shocked that I accidentally hung up on Timoteo-jiichan. Stupid Reborn."

"You called _Signore_ Timoteo?" asked Gokudera, surprised. Tsuna looked away awkwardly and nodded. To Yamamoto's surprise, Gokudera broke out in a genuinely warm smile. "I'm sure he was very happy, Tenth."

Yamamoto felt his heart churn unhappily when Tsuna flushed at Gokudera's words. No doubt this Timoteo fellow was Vongola like them. If Yamamoto became one of them, he would know all of Tsuna's friends; know more about Tsuna. He would be able to get closer to this boy who had unrepentantly, albeit unknowingly, captured his attention and affections.

But then, what was going to happen to him? This was a decision that would impact his entire life. Should he gamble away his life for a schoolboy crush?

Yamamoto stood up quietly. "I have to go."

"Eh? But you just got here," protested Tsuna.

"I have some thing I have to think about," said Yamamoto. He saw Gokudera give him a stern look of approval on his way out. However, he also saw Tsuna's worried expression and it made his heart do uncomfortable flip flops. Just before he closed the door behind him, he heard Tsuna ask Gokudera desperately if Reborn had said anything funny to him.

Yamamoto trudged down the stairs, forced a weak smile for Tsuna's mother, and walked home slowly, his mind swirling with thoughts about Tsuna, the mafia, and how much he stood to lose.

* * *

**Saluta Morte de Parte Mia**

**30 January 2011**

**

* * *

**

Tsuna sunk lower in his seat nervously. He could feel eyes on him. Not the stalker or assassin-type eyes but normal glaring gazes. But that was probably because everyone in the class was _staring_ at him. It was all Hibari's fault.

Hibari Kyoya was a formidable figure, not just in this school, but the whole of Namimori. He was the silent leader, who ruled with an iron fist and enforced rules mercilessly. Not even the police wanted to get involved whenever Hibari was around.

It made Namimori Junior High the safest place in town. But, it also made it the most dangerous.

People went out of their way to stay out of Hibari's way. Even Tsuna, who could smell trouble on him a mile away. But today, it was Hibari, who sought him out. Tsuna's mental alarms were howling so loudly he could hardly hear his own thudding heart.

He faked a fearful, squeaky voice. "Do you need me for something, Hibari-san?"

Hibari glared down at him balefully. People said the eyes were like the windows of your soul. Right now, Hibari's cold black irises looked like the concrete of the pavement. "I heard news that this class is planning to do a mafia-themed cafe for the cultural festival in two weeks," he said in clipped tones. "Why haven't I received your form? You need the permission of the disciplinary committee for that."

Tsuna blinked in surprise. "What?" He's never heard that rule before.

One of his classmates stood up. "Why? The other classes just sent in their applications to the student council. Why do we have to get permission from you?

Tsuna heard the boy squeak when Hibari turned to glare at him. The prefect tended to have that effect on people, even grown adults. Tsuna's actually seen him stare down a policeman, who caught him beating up a few students outside school. It'd been hilariously horrifying.

"He has a point, Hibari-san. Um - is there a reason why we need to have the disciplinary committee's approval?" asked Tsuna. He added another squeak for good measure.

"The presence of mafiosi in the school poses a threat to security. I cannot abide by such risks without taking necessary precautions."

Tsuna stared at him confusedly. "Hibari-san, although we're doing a mafia-themed cafe, you know that there won't be real mafiosi attending, right?" Well, except Gokudera, Lambo and probably Longchamp, but who's checking?

"Not according to this." Hibari slapped a piece of paper onto Tsuna's desk.

It was an RSVP, confirming that the boss of the Cavallone family will be attending the mafia cafe hosted by Namimori Junior High and that he expresses gratitude at the honour of being invited. Tsuna held the letter up to the light and saw the Cavallone family crest embossed into the paper. It was real, alright.

But how did Dino find out about the mafia cafe? And who in the world invited him?

He tried a sheepish smile at Hibari. "Maybe it's a prank?" He was rewarded with a tonfa an inch from his Adam's apple.

"Do not treat me like a fool, Sawada Tsunayoshi. I have seen the types you surround yourself with. Your association with them is a threat to Namimori. I should bite you to death right now," threatened the prefect silkily.

Tsuna felt his hackles rise at the challenge. "Then why haven't you?"

The entire class gasped. Tsuna realised belatedly that he shouldn't have challenged Hibari at all. It clashed with his cowardly act. But he couldn't very well retract his words now. He'd try and make up for it later.

Hibari smirked and jammed the butt of his weapon into Tsuna's throat. Tsuna reeled backwards, choking from the attack. He heard a loud roar and grabbed the back of Gokudera's shirt just in time to stop him from attacking Hibari. But Yamamoto's also stood up, eyes hard and fists clenched.

The class went deathly silent.

"The reason you still stand before me, _herbivore_," said Hibari, spitting out the word like the lowest insult, "is because you remain interesting to me. That was not the only one I received." Hibari reached into the back pocket of his coat and pulled out three more RSVPs; each from a renowned mafia family, who were allies with the Vongola. Not that Hibari knew, of course.

Tsuna barely refrained from groaning.

"So, what do I have to do to gain your approval?" he asked, voice still hoarse from the assault to his throat.

"Reserve a table at your little cafe, strictly for the use of the disciplinary committee."

_Wait._ Tsuna stared dumbly at him. _What? _"Are you serious?" asked Tsuna but Hibari had already left, leaving a strew of dumfounded stares in his wake. Tsuna turned to look at his classmates. "Was he serious?" squeaked Tsuna.

Nobody ventured an answer.

Tsuna pinched the bridge of his nose. He would deal with Hibari later. The prefect wasn't his biggest problem right now. "Okay, I'm going to go out on a limb here and ask a stupid question. Did any one of you actually do something as _ridiculous_ as invite real mafiosi to our festival cafe?"

"THAT WOULD BE ME TO THE EXTREME!" Sasagawa Ryohei entered the classroom with more gusto and enthusiasm Tsuna has ever seen anyone attempt. The silver-haired senior was punching the air as if he has achieved some sort of great victory. "What sort of mafia cafe would we be if we didn't even have mafia people coming, to the extreme, right?"

Tsuna massaged his temples. "You're not even in this class."

The boxing captain continued on as if Tsuna never spoke. "I just ran extremely into this foreign guy outside school and he says he's a mafia boss, so I invited him and asked him to invite all the mafia people he knows!"

Gokudera slammed his hands onto the table, thus provoking half the girls in the class to swoon and pass out from his show masculinity. "That's crazy! Someone like that is bound to have many connections! Our classroom can't possibly hold that many people!"

"I don't think that's the problem we should be addressing here, Gokudera," said Tsuna offhandedly as he read all the RSVPs Hibari had left on his table.

"But Tenth, what if this guy invited someone from a rival family?" hissed Gokudera softly. "Your life would be in danger!"

"No, they're all friends," said Tsuna. "I checked." He dumped the letters onto his friend's table.

Gokudera rifled through the papers, eyes widening. "This is amazing, Tenth! Even the famed assassin family, Giegue, are planning to attend."

Tsuna nearly jumped when Yamamoto poked his head into the conversation. "Assassin family?"

"Yamamoto, it's not-"

"Yeah, the Giegue are infamous for being silent killers. Many smaller mafia families contract Giegue assassins to do their dirty work. Of course, the Vongola have never needed their services. We've always been very well-equipped on our own."

Tsuna quickly slapped Gokudera on the head to shut him up. "Forget what he said. It was nothing," he said to Yamamoto, who gave him an amused grin. "Just as well, we will be declining all the accepted invitations."

Gokudera and Ryohei did a double-take. "What?" asked Gokudera. "Why?" demanded Ryohei.

"This is a school event. We don't need real mafiosi to attend. What if the students and visitors get hurt? Besides, our classmates already look scared!" reasoned Tsuna, gesturing at the rest of their classmates who were exchanging worried looks. "This is an event for students. Not the mafia."

"Quit trying to act cool."

Tsuna was slightly taken back at the tone of hostility from the girl sitting two tables away from him. He'd never spoken to her. Mainly because she never spoke to him but that hardly mattered right now. She was glaring at her desk, her lips pursed into a thin line of displeasure. Tsuna stammered, "Ex-excuse me?"

The girl finally looked at him, her glare intensifying. "This would never have happened if someone else was in charge. You always attract all kinds of trouble, No Good Tsuna."

Tsuna steeled himself. This girl has an axe to grind. But for some reason, he sensed that her problem wasn't really with him. At his side, Gokudera had begun to growl. Tsuna maintained his hold on his friend's arm and squeezed it gently in warning.

The girl continued. "Plus, I heard that you were making Yamamoto do all the work. I saw the list of materials and plans for the cafe in his notebook."

"Really?" said another girl with disbelief. "That's unfair, No Good Tsuna!"

"Yeah! What makes you think you can push all the work on someone else?" demanded the boy in front of her.

Yamamoto tried to interject. "No, guys, you got it all wrong. Tsuna isn't-"

"You don't have to defend him just because you're really nice, Yamamoto," said the first girl. "We never should have agreed to let No Good Tsuna be in charge in the first place. That was partly our fault."

"I agree. Do what you think is best," said Tsuna with a nod.

"Tenth!" exclaimed Gokudera in disbelief.

"You heard her, Gokudera. I'm not fit to be in charge. Maybe you should realise that too," said Tsuna. He gave the silver-haired arsonist a lingering gaze and another squeeze on his arm when Gokudera obeyed the silent command to back down. A few days ago, Tsuna would've had to scream to make Gokudera stop 'defending his honour'. This was progress.

Tsuna smiled.

**X**

Yamamoto tried hard not to scowl. He failed.

He didn't like the way Tsuna was looking at Gokudera. He didn't like that Tsuna was smiling at someone other than _him_. And it's not even the general 'good morning' smile that Tsuna gave freely. This was Tsuna's genuine smile. Yamamoto didn't even know he had one before today and he felt like kicking himself in the gut for this.

He saw the way Tsuna's squeezed Gokudera's arm and resolutely looked away. He didn't even raise his head when Misato imperiously dictated that Yamamoto was to replace Tsuna as the new leader of the class project.

He only did all the work to get closer to Tsuna. Now he didn't want anything to do with it.

The way he had planned it, this was supposed to be a normal class project. Like every other cultural festival he had participated in. This cafe project was supposed to give him time with Tsuna; time for Tsuna to see how awesome Yamamoto could be. Time for Tsuna to start liking Yamamoto. Time between here and the end of the festival, when Tsuna would be more likely to say 'yes' if Yamamoto mustered the courage to request a date from him.

In his plan, Tsuna wasn't the next heir of a major mafia empire. Gokudera didn't nearly kill him for trying to enforce normalcy. In his plan, Yamamoto didn't have to choose between Tsuna and living his life in peace.

The bell rang. Yamamoto's eyes followed Tsuna as he exited the classroom with Gokudera close at his heels. He saw Gokudera tap Tsuna's shoulder and said something which made Tsuna throw back his head and laugh. It made Yamamoto want to throw something at the wall. It could've been _him_ walking next to Tsuna. It could be _him_ making Tsuna laugh. If he joined the Vongola, he would be in Tsuna's circle too.

Yamamoto grasped his head in his hands. What was he doing?

Just fourteen hours ago, he'd decided that he would have nothing to do with the mafia. No matter how awesome Tsuna was. No matter how much Yamamoto liked him. No matter how little he knew about Tsuna and yet felt that he wanted to do everything for him. He _couldn't _join the mafia. It would put his family in danger. His father. The sushi restaurant. His life. But on the other hand...

...he would be with Tsuna.

Yamamoto took a deep breath and left the classroom. He needed some air.

**X**

By routine, Tsuna found himself on the rooftop with Lambo. He'd sent Gokudera on another stupid errand to find him some curry croquettes because the Italian boy was so full of restless energy to 'serve' him. Tsuna hoped that Gokudera would soon grow out of it because frankly, his devotion was sort of scary.

Tsuna nursed his lunch and watched bemusedly as Lambo attempted to heat his lunch with a stolen Bunsen burner. Any other friend would've told Lambo that he should just deal with eating his risotto cold. But Tsuna preferred to watch his friend nearly burn off his eyebrows for the hilarity of it.

"Ouch! Dammit!"

Tsuna slapped his thigh and let out a bark of laughter. Lambo glared at him. Taking pity, Tsuna gave up one of his onigiri. "Sorry, I had a couple of bad days," said Tsuna, when Lambo slumped into the space next to him. "I need to get my kicks from somewhere."

"For someone who doesn't want to be a mafia boss, you are uncannily sadistic," replied Lambo, taking a large bite out of the rice ball.

"Yeah well, considering that most of the friends I had when I was a kid consisted of the Vongola's upper echelon assassins, I think I turned out pretty normal," said Tsuna flippantly.

Lambo laughed. "I still can't believe Vongola Nono flew out his best men to Japan just so you would have a playmate. That man loves you."

"I know. I'm still not accepting his offer but we made a deal that I would call him every week. I'm sure he's still going to try and talk me into succeeding him, but after the favour I asked of him to take care of Rokudo Mukuro's underlings, I can't very well ask him to stop."

"Congrats on wrapping that up nicely, by the way. I hear the men in Italy were very impressed with how you've managed to garner Mukuro's allegiance."

Tsuna scowled heavily. "I did nothing. Mukuro was just convinced of some delusion that I would be the one who would set him free from his water jail. Of course, I'm going to try and get him out - move him to somewhere more humane - but that's neither here nor there really."

"Nope. That Mukuro thing moved you two spots up on the poll."

Tsuna looked at Lambo curiously. "What poll?"

"Some of the families have a betting pool on who will be the next Vongola. Although you're _Signore _Timoteo's favourite, everyone else thinks your an idiot so you were at the bottom of the list. But you've jumped two spots, so congratulations. Xanxus holds the top spot, if you wanted to know," added Lambo.

Tsuna made a face at him. "No, _I didn't want to know_. Just wrapped the whole Mukuro fiasco and already I have another one in my hands."

"Yamamoto?"

Tsuna frowned. Although both Gokudera and Yamamoto had taken pains to hide what was going on from him, Tsuna knew exactly what Reborn was planning. The only flaw in that plan was that Yamamoto has no incentive to join the Vongola. Unlike Gokudera who wanted a family and Mukuro who needed an escape route, Yamamoto would gain nothing by pledging subserviency to him. It was the only reason why Tsuna hasn't bothered to confront the other boy about it.

"At least I'm not in charge of the stupid mafia cafe any more.," said Tsuna. "I already sent declinations to all the mafia families who agreed to come. Everything should go smoothly ... hopefully."

Lambo looked crestfallen. "You did? I was looking forward to seeing my boss again."

"Oh yeah. The Bovino family wanted to come too. Sorry. But I don't think I'd be able to handle it if all those people came and acted like I really am the next Vongola boss or something. I might actually break act and kick them all in the head."

Lambo laughed. "By the way, what are you going to wear for it?"

"... wear?"

**X**

Tsuna screamed as he was manhandled into the reception room by Shamal and Dino. Dino kicked the door shut behind him and locked it for good measure as Shamal pushed Tsuna to the center of the room and presented him to the tailor like a sacrifice. Really, it was bad enough that Shamal pulled him out of English class under the false pretense of curing his nonexistent stomachache. But now they were forcing him to -

Tsuna kicked the tailor when he tried to take his measurements. "Stop it! 15-year old boys do not need bespoke suits!" He let out a cry when the tailor pinned him to the floor.

The tailor was a surprisingly muscled, given his profession. Apparently, he was the man Dino patronised whenever he needed suits. When the tailor shifted, Tsuna spotted a Ruger P94 slitted in a well-concealed shoulder holster under his coat. Tsuna froze. He should not be this surprised that the tailor was mafioso too.

"You'll need something to wear for the cafe," said Dino. "As the next leader of the Vongola, it's best you have a good suit on hand anyway."

"No I don't! I don't need any suits since I'm _not_ the next Vongola whatever."

Shamal sighed in exasperation. "You know, if you don't cooperate, I can just inject you with a paralytic. Frankly, I don't want to spend any more time with you when I can be ogling sweet high school girls from my window," he grumbled.

Dino chuckled at him. "Come now, Shamal, don't be like that. This will just take a minute longer."

"Would you prefer a navy blue or deep brown for your coat, sir?" asked the tailor politely, despite the fact that he was burying one elbow into Tsuna's chest to keep him immobile while he measured the breadth of Tsuna's shoulders.

"What about grey?" said Dino abruptly. "Dark grey. Something near black. It'll bring out the colour of his eyes."

"Very good, sir," said the tailor. "Now if you would just part your legs, I will measure your inseam."

The door was thrown open.

"DIdn't I lock that?" Dino wondered aloud.

Tsuna stared with wide eyes, filled with horror, when he saw Hibari standing at the threshold, and wondered how his life could suck this much. To his credit, Hibari didn't even blink at the sight of a burly man feeling up the length of Tsuna's leg with a measuring tape. Instead, he descended immediately into attack mode. Without so much as a word, he plowed forward and rained sequential blows on Dino with his tonfas.

Dino yelped in surprise and barely managed to defend himself. He sidestepped Hibari expertly and wrapped his whip around Hibari twice. This succeeded in binding Hibari for all of one minute before he kicked Dino in his precious place and peeled the whip off him.

"DINO!" yelled Tsuna.

Dino pitched forward with a pained groan. Tsuna flinched when Dino hit the floor. That kick looked like it really hurt.

"Boss!" the tailor abandoned Tsuna and ran to help Dino.

Once Dino was down, Hibari turned towards Shamal, but before he could attack, he collapsed to the ground in a crumpled heap. Limbs folded awkwardly under him, Hibari glared sharply at Shamal. "I can't move my body. What did you do? Wait...aren't you the school nurse?"

"That I am," said Shamal, petting his mosquito when it returned to its perch on his shoulder.

Hibari's glare intensified. "I have heard many things about you. You have disturbed the peace of Namimori. I'll bite you to death for that."

"I'm sure you would love to but you're going to have to wait until the paralytic wears off," said Shamal with a smirk. "Come on, Dino. Let's get out of here. You've got the measurements, haven't you?" he asked the tailor.

The tailor nodded as he looped one of Dino's arms over his shoulders and helped him to his feet. The three men proceeded to leave the room without ceremony, except Shamal, who popped back in only to say, "Hey Vongola. A schoolgirl uniform. You have potential. You should really think about it."

Tsuna had half a mind to throw his shoe at the lecherous man. He sank onto the sofa with an tired sigh. Then he remembered the other presence in the room and went to help Hibari. After some struggling, he managed to get Hibari onto the sofa and in a more comfortable position. He was kind of uncomfortable touching the prefect at all but tried not to let it show. Unfortunately, Hibari had no such qualms.

"This is the first time I've allowed someone to touch me this much," he said, toneless. There was still a vicious edge to him but a little less caustic than his usual bite.

Tsuna snorted. "You didn't _allow_ anything. If you had control over your motor functions, I bet I'd be bleeding all over the carpet by now."

Tsuna paused when he noticed the silence that followed his words. He's not sure, but he might've just slipped up his act. Again. Cowardly Tsuna wouldn't have dared say anything to Super Scary Hibari at all. He cleared his throat uneasily. "What I meant to say was - are you going to be okay?"

"You do that sometimes. It's not obvious, but sometimes I get another feeling off you," said Hibari in an apparent non-sequitur. His gaze pierced and Tsuna felt it impolite to look away. "Often times, you act like a herbivore. But when you think no one is looking, you emit this aura like you're the leader of the pack."

Tsuna felt his hackles rising the more Hibari spoke. He had no idea that the prefect took any notice of him at all. This was bad news. If Hibari knew how close he was to the truth...

Hibari's eyes were gleaming now. It might've just been in his head but Tsuna could've sworn that the temperature in the room suddenly took a dive. Chills ran up his spine. "During times like those," said Hibari, "I feel like eating you up."

The knock on the door broke the silence and tension that had permeated the atmosphere between the two of them. A voice came through the door, "Hibari-sama, are you in there?" It was Kusakabe, Hibari's pompadour-sporting second-in-command. Tsuna felt like he could breath again.

"By the way, I'm not in charge of Class 1-B's activity for the cultural festival any more. Just thought you should know."

"What happened?" said Hibari.

"A coup d'etat."

"You should bite them to death."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks," said Tsuna, without thinking. "WIll you be okay?"

Hibari's gaze moved downwards. "I can't even move my fingers. Once I'm able to move, I'll bite you to death for letting those people into my room," he said to Tsuna.

"This isn't really your room, you know," quipped Tsuna as he made towards the door.

"It's mine," said Hibari. "Everything in Namimori is mine."

Tsuna raised an eyebrow. "So I'm yours too?"

"Of course."

Tsuna barely refrained from laughing. "That's some seriously warped up logic," he said before opening the door and quickly slipping away.

He ignored Kusakabe's look of surprise and ducked into the corridor so he could shake the tremors from his body. This was why he never wanted to get involved with Hibari. Not only because he was trouble but because he was scary as hell. Hibari definitely would make a better mafia boss than him. Tsuna walked back to class, resolving to put all thoughts of sharp eyes and being 'eaten' out of his head.

**X**

"Has anyone seen Yamamoto?"

Science class was replaced by a meeting for the cultural festival. As the date of the festival drew closer, all classes would eventually be put on hold. Tsuna was glad for the reprieve. Acting stupid in front of teachers was tiring. Also, he was assigned the role of 'clean up'. The guys didn't want him dressed up like mafiosi next to them and the girls didn't want him messing up in the kitchen, so his duty was to clean up the mess after the festival. Tsuna was completely fine with that. He rejoiced in not having to stand out in any way. This also meant that he was free to explore the festival while his classmates worked the cafe.

However, all this was irrelevant at the moment. Right now, Yamamoto was missing.

Everyone turned to look at one another in bewilderment. No one had seen Yamamoto since their lunch break ended. Did anyone know where Yamamoto took his lunch? He usually took it in the classroom. Has anyone checked the locker room or the baseball field? Maybe he was doing extra practice for the team. No, he wasn't. Misato checked earlier. Tsuna turned to ask Gokudera if he had run across Yamamoto while buying the curry croquettes.

Gokudera shook his head. "Nope. Didn't see him at all. Would you like more croquettes, Tenth?"

Tsuna declined, putting his chin in his hand. Much as he hoped this had nothing to do with the offer Reborn had given Yamamoto, Tsuna knew it was useless to pretend otherwise. Maybe he had been wrong in not confronting Yamamoto about it earlier. Tsuna elbowed Gokudera gently in the side. "Come on. Let's go look for him."

Gokudera stood up and followed Tsuna wordlessly.

When the others saw Tsuna and Gokudera walking out of the class, they mimicked them and went searching for Yamamoto too. They looked in the fields again and at the bread shop. Some boys checked the toilets while the girls went around asking the teachers. The others went searching from class to class, which was how Sasagawa Ryohei got involved and took charge of the search.

They eventually found Yamamoto on the rooftop.

Tsuna couldn't help but laugh at the irony of it when Gokudera told him. He had been up there with Lambo only a half hour ago. But what was Yamamoto doing there?

By the time Tsuna arrived at the rooftop, the entire class and Ryohei was circled around Yamamoto, who was standing on the wrong side of the safety railings. His tips of his feet teased over the edge, promising a three-storey fall. HIs arms were looped around the railing behind him. All his friends were shouting, telling him not to jump. Soon, the rest of the baseball team joined them.

Tsuna could see some of the melted cheese and plastic on the floor from when Lambo tried to heat his lunch. The gross mixture was now solid and stuck to the floor. Tsuna stepped over it as he made his way over to Yamamoto.

It wasn't easy. His classmates were in the way. Every time he tried to push forward, his classmates held him back, probably wondering why No Good Tsuna wanted a front-seat view of Yamamoto making an attempt at his life.

"Shall I blow them away, Tenth?" asked Gokudera, fingering his dynamite.

"The point here is to stop Yamamoto from killing himself, not killing everyone in our class," deadpanned Tsuna. He gritted his teeth when another person cursed at him for trying to plow ahead. Inflamed, he stepped on the person's foot, crunching his toes. The boy yowled in pain and stepped aside. Tsuna barely remembered to mutter an apology and strode ahead.

Misato was at the front and stopped yelling, "Don't jump, Yamamoto!" to ask, "What are you doing here, No Good Tsuna?"

At the mention of Tsuna's name, Yamamoto's head snapped back. Tsuna's locked eyes with him. This had gone far enough.

**X**

Yamamoto came up to get some air. He spent the entire lunch abusing his fists in the boxing club's gym because he heard it would help, but his mind was still clouded so he came up to get some air.

The rooftop was supposed to be locked but when Yamamoto turned the knob, it was apparent that someone has fiddled with the lock time and time again. All he needed was a ballpoint pen and he could get past the door now. Yamamoto sidestepped the suspicious looking yellow-blue goo on the floor and leaned his elbows on the railing.

The gentle wind was soothing and the view ahead of him was amazing. The sky today was a brilliant blue except where the Namimori skyline carved into it. In the distance, Yamamoto could spot the green trees of their forest reserve and to the right, the ruins of the old Kokuyo theme park.

It made him think about the few times he ever went there with his father, back when his mother was still around. He met Tsuna there once actually. Yamamoto hadn't known Tsuna at the time but it was hard to miss the little boy who was flanked by his parents, his grandfather, and an entire battalion of bodyguards in black suits always three feet behind him. They were probably the mafia Gokudera had been talking about.

In retrospect, Yamamoto should've realised that there was something strange about Tsuna from the beginning.

"Oi Takeshi," he muttered to himself, "of all the people in all the world, why did you fall in love with someone who is mafia?"

He stepped over the railings. He wasn't thinking about killing himself. He just felt like putting his life in a little danger because his thoughts were still chaotic. He looped his arms around the safety railings and leaned forward to get a little more of the afternoon wind, when he heard a shrill yell and nearly lost his grip.

It was Misato and the rest of his classmates, rushing forward and yet stopping before they could get close because they were afraid he would jump.

"Yamamoto, what are you doing?"

"Don't jump!"

"We don't want you to die!"

"We love you, Yama-chii!"

"Yamamoto-sama!"

Yamamoto was secretly annoyed at how the calm silence was so quickly broken. He wanted some peace dammit! He wanted to sort out his feelings and thoughts! He wanted to _know what to do_.

"What are you doing here, No Good Tsuna?"

Yamamoto whipped his head around and saw Tsuna favouring Misato with a sour look before locking gazes with him. _Tsuna was here. _Yamamoto gripped the railing a little harder. He wanted to talk to Tsuna. Maybe Tsuna would know what was right for him to do. But with such a commotion behind him, he didn't know how he was going to climb back over.

"Yamamoto, can you come back over to this side, please?"

_Anything for you, Tsuna._

The thought made Yamamoto pause. It surprised him how fast it came to him. Even when he was in such a precarious situation where a step there could end his life, all he could think about was getting back to Tsuna. There was something terribly wrong with him.

Yamamoto carefully turned around and looped one leg over the railing. The entire class and his baseball team cheered. Yamamoto grinned weakly. "It's not like I wanted to jump. I just wanted some air."

"I know," said Tsuna. "Be careful."

But even as he said that, Yamamoto slipped. Because everything that could go wrong would eventually go wrong. Look it up. It's some kind of law, thought Yamamoto as his world tilted and all he saw was a wide expanse of blue.

He should panic. He should be panicking right about now because he was about to fall to his death. He was going to die because of a foolish mistake. Forget being shot by the mafia. This was how he was going to die and it was pathetic.

"_TAKESHI!_"

Tsuna grabbed his hand and _pulled_. Tsuna with his tiny body and his wide, wide eyes, was holding on to his hand and trying to pull him up. Gokudera grabbed his other hand and growled, "You stupid baseball idiot! This is a stupid way to die!"

_My thoughts exactly._

"If you want to die, die protecting the Tenth! Not because you tripped, _idiot_."

Yamamoto blinked. Didn't Gokudera tell him not to join the Vongola? Hadn't Gokudera thought he wasn't good enough because he was a civilian?

It wasn't just Tsuna and Gokudera. Their classmates were scrambling to pull him up. With his feet propped against the wall and his arms supported by his friends, Yamamoto climbed back up and over the railing onto safe ground. He collapsed onto Tsuna and Gokudera, exhausted, drained from the exertion.

Tsuna laughed hysterically under him even as Gokudera growled bad-temperedly. "You really scared me there," said Tsuna, beating him on the arm.

Yamamoto smiled shakily. He'd scared himself. He raised his head and caught a flash of a black fedora. Reborn.

Yamamoto tried to stand but his legs still felt weak. His friends all pounded him on the back, scolding him for frightening them. "If you didn't want to be head of the project, you could've just said so!" said Misato tearfully.

"Yeah," said Tsuna slowly. "You could've just said so."

Tsuna's voice was soft but Yamamoto heard him nonetheless. Yamamoto knew the reason behind the weight in Tsuna's voice. He must've found out about Reborn and the offer. Tsuna must now know that Yamamoto was given the choice to join him.

"It's a heavy burden, right? No one would want a burden like that," said Tsuna. Beside him, Gokudera looked at Tsuna sadly. "Just tell them 'no'. It'll be okay."

Everyone else was slightly confused but their murmured their assent nonetheless. Yamamoto chuckled to himself and shook his head. "No, that's not right." He felt better. His head was clear again. The reason he was so sick before was because he was going against his natural instincts. He didn't want to be selfish. He didn't want to live the rest of his life peacefully knowing what he knew now. "I want the burden. I want to do this."

Tsuna's lips went thin with displeasure. "Yamamoto," he said warningly.

"I may not know what the job completely entails, but I won't reject the responsibility. This is important to me." _You are important to me._

There was a flash of a shark grin and the black fedora was gone.

"You don't know what you're doing," said Tsuna.

Yamamoto stared at Tsuna, at his childish countenance, at the way he now held himself so tall and brave, at his hands, red from holding on tight to Yamamoto. "I want a chance to save you too."

**X**

The mustachioed man slid a Polaroid across the table. "This is the boy."

"He looks weak," said the woman, picking up the photo. "Not even of age."

"So I thought," said the man. "But my sources tell me that even Trident Shamal has sided with him. Sawada Tsunayoshi might just be an ordinary schoolboy now, but I fear what he will become."

The woman laughed. "You really are becoming paranoid in your old age, _Signore Baffi_. So what do you want to do?

"I want you to go to Japan and kill the boy."

"Do you want the body as well?"

"No. Just make sure he dies."

The woman nodded, grabbed her helmet, and left the office The man cried just as she was out the door, "And make sure no one will know it was you, Bianchi!"

* * *

TBC...


	5. five

**Author's Notes **Hey guys! Thanks for all your reviews and letting me know what you think. I'm glad so many of you have love for Yamamoto, but it's time to shift the focus. The other characters need love too! So, in this chapter, there'll be less of Yama-san and more of - well, you probably already know.

Sorry again, for the long time it takes me to update. I'm really bad at finishing my stories on time and liking what I've written so I often scrap ideas and incorporate new/old ones. But to those who still read this story, I love you. And kudos to anyone who catches the _Godfather_ references!

**Pairings (for this chapter)** 5027, 8027, 3327 (finally!), past RebornBianchi

* * *

Gokudera Hayato 'made his bones' when he was 12. His victim was a neighbour who greeted the day by beating his wife into submission and then forcing her to make breakfast.

On the fifth morning young Gokudera Hayato woke up to the woman's shrieked pleas for mercy, he knocked on his neighbour's door and stuck a knife deep into his stomach. Gokudera would've preferred sticking in his face but he wasn't tall enough at the time. The woman continued to shriek when Gokudera twisted the knife and drew it all the way up to the man's chest for good measure.

When the man fell onto the floor, Gokudera told the newly-widowed woman that he was the tenant next door; an unspoken warning that if she dared tell anyone about what he'd done, he would come after her.

But Gokudera didn't need to worry about that. That was in Sicily, where everyone was bound to _omerta_, the code of silence.

In his opinion, Japan was a more dangerous place. Here, it was near impossible to bribe the police or coerce the politicians. There was something about this country that made the citizens tough. It pissed Gokudera off.

Truth was, he would never have stepped foot in Japan were it not for Vongola Nono. Although his first murder at 12 made Gokudera a legend among his kind, none of the _famiglia_ wanted to take him in because of his notorious Sicilian temper.

_Such a temper in one so young is not good_, they said.

Even Gokudera's own family had thought so. His father has always preferred his oldest daughter, Bianchi, who was poised, elegant, cunning and dangerous, the last two of which were most important.

Gokudera hated her growing up but years of separation have tempered his loathing. Gokudera has not seen his older sister since he left the mansion at 12. He received funds from his uncles and managed to live by himself for the three years before Vongola Nono summoned him.

Timoteo recruited Gokudera through Reborn, and gave him the job of testing Tsuna's worth as a Vongola successor. Although he was a very generous man, Timoteo made it very clear to Gokudera that he has not accepted him into his _famiglia_. "If Tsuna turns out to be worthy, you may endear yourself to him. If he, in turn, finds you worthy, you might one day find yourself as his _consigliere_."

The right-hand man. The most coveted spot in all mafia families.

Ever since that fateful day in Kokuyo, Gokudera has made it his life's ambition to be Tsuna's _consigliere_. He would prove to Tsuna that he was a good subordinate; trustworthy, loyal, and most of all, a man who loved him.

The morning sun rose. Gokudera pulled on his suit in preparation for the day. He could not afford to be late for the cultural festival.

* * *

**Saluta Morte de Parte Mia**

**12 May 2011**

* * *

When Tsuna approached his front gate this morning and didn't see Gokudera waiting, he got the instinctive feeling that something bad was going to happen. True to Murphy's Law, five minutes after leaving his house, Tsuna walked right into his attacker.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi," the man said with an Italian accent. But what really set the alarms in Tsuna's head wailing was the mask the man wore. It has two black holes for eyes and a solemn line slashed across where the mouth should be.

Tsuna looked furtively from side to side and, sure enough, there were more men in masks edging closer towards him. Tsuna curled his hands into fists. All he could think about was that this was what he has been trying to avoid these past three years.

Swallowing, Tsuna said, "Who are you?"

"We are Giegue," said the man in stilted Japanese. "We are in Alliance with the Vongola, but there are some high up in Vongola who want to see you dead. There are some who do not want to see you become Decimo."

"I don't even want to be Decimo! I'll resign my right!" said Tsuna.

"Unfortunately, that is not for you to decide. I am sorry, Sawada Tsunayoshi. You cannot live."

All at once, the men in the horrible white masks jumped at him. Tsuna tried to run. He dodged to the left and then to the right, punching whichever body that got close enough and kicking anything within reach. He cried and tore and bit. He was unwilling to die like this.

There was so much he still wanted to do. Provide for his mother, find the love of his life, properly reconcile with Timoteo, watch Lambo confess to Reborn again.

He screamed when one of the masked men tore at his arm and ruined his stitches. Blood poured freely from the reopened wound. He kicked his assailer away but that did nothing to deter the others. When Tsuna saw one of the men approaching with a garrote, he snatched a _lupara _from the other men and aimed it at him.

"That's enough."

The leader of the group touched the muzzle of his handgun to Tsuna's forehead. "Like I said, I'm sorry."

It was useless. Even if the man miraculously dropped his gun, Tsuna would not be able to escape. His wound was too serious and he was outnumbered. Tsuna saw darkness edging his vision. It must be from the blood loss.

He really didn't want to die like this.

But he didn't see much of a choice.

Tsuna closed his eyes. He really hated his life.

* * *

Gokudera grinned. The classroom looked brilliant, if he did say so himself. It didn't look exactly like the interior of a classy pub, which was what he intended, but it didn't look half bad either.

They've blocked out most of the sunlight by covering the windows with dark curtains and lit the room with candlelight and dim electric lamps. There was some light instrumental music playing in the background, courtesy of a borrowed stereo and Gokudera's private collection of CDs. There was a tablecloth and a vase containing a single stem rose on every table, accompanied by the menu printed on cream-coloured card, and hanging on the walls were pictures of famous Hollywood gangster movies like _The Godfather _and _Goodfellas_.

In the corner was the shooting gallery. Yamamoto had contracted the man who usually set up the throwing booths during festivals like he promised. The difference was that their classmates refashioned the water guns to look like submachine guns from the 1930s, and instead of toys, they were shooting at cardboard cutouts of people.

They were in good time too. There was one hour before the festival was slotted to begin. The decorations were all in place and the temporary kitchen was set up and fully functional. All that was left was to get everybody into their costumes.

Gokudera had arrived at school already dressed in his semi-formal suit, with the shirt collar hanging loose so that his silver chains were on display. His father had always criticised his choice of outfit but Gokudera never cared for that man's opinion. Besides, if the amount of girls he saw swooning at him were anything to go by, Gokudera would say he looked pretty good like this.

Gokudera slipped a cigarette between his lips and checked his mobile again. Reborn had told him to wait for his call. But after no news at all for the past half an hour, Gokudera was more than tempted to call Reborn and demand to know what was going on.

Earlier this morning, Reborn phoned Gokudera ordering him not to accompany Tsuna to school. Since this compromised Tsuna's security, Gokudera refused. But Reborn had been insistent, telling him that he's arranged for another person to guard Tsuna. He wouldn't tell Gokudera who this person was, only that he attended Namimori as well. At first, Gokudera thought it was Yamamoto, but the baseball player was already at school by the time Gokudera arrived.

Now Gokudera could not help worrying. He trusted Reborn. He truly did. But at times like these, Gokudera wondered if his trust was misplaced.

"Gokudera! Look'it this!" One of the boys sprang into the classroom, fresh out of wardrobe with a suit that was a bit too big on him. One sleeve was shoved up his left forearm. "I used some of the makeup from the acting department. What do you think?" His arm was dribbled in red and splotches of black.

Gokudera raised an eyebrow. "What is that supposed to be?"

"Are you kidding me? That's obviously a knife wound!" said the boy.

His friend joined him and hiked up his shirt. "Yeah, right! Look at mine! It's a bullet wound!"

Gokudera slapped his forehead. "First of all, a knife wound means that a cut had been made into flesh. Yours looks like you just started bleeding from your pores. Secondly, that is _not_ how a bullet wound should look like. It needs more depth, and discolouration around the wound. Honestly, it's as if none of you got stabbed or shot at before. If you want to do this, than do this seriously!" he roared.

The two boys swapped annoyed looks. "If it's so bad, then why don't you show us how it's done."

Gokudera nodded and took out his butterfly knife and _Smith & Wesson _handgun. Fortunately for the two boys, Yamamoto chose that moment to prance into the classroom fully decked in his mafia costume, and asked cheerfully, "Gokudera, how do I look?"

Gokudera narrowed his eyes. He hated to admit it but the baseball idiot actually looked good. Yamamoto has a good body from sports training, so the suit fitted him well. There was only one problem. Gokudera gritted his teeth, ruining his cigarette in the process. "Pray tell, why are you wearing _sneakers_?"

Yamamoto scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "I don't have any shoes that go with this suit. Besides, does it matter what I'm wearing on my feet?"

"Does it matter? _Does it matter_?" said Gokudera. He grabbed Yamamoto by the lapels of his coat and shook him. "We are here representing the Tenth! I won't let you disgrace him by allowing you to wear _sneakers with this suit_! Take them off! Take them off right now!"

"Why Hayato, I never knew you liked guys that way," said Shamal, popping into the classroom. His carefree grin quickly turned sleazy when he saw the girls in their costumes; some as showgirls, some in old Hollywood starlet dresses with shining sequins and slits running up their thighs.

Under school regulations, such revealing clothes were not allowed at all, but Gokudera had pulled a few strings. He regretted it now.

"What are you doing here, Shamal?" Gokudera said angrily.

"This is a mafia cafe, no? I've come for a cup of coffee."

"The cafe isn't open yet. Go back to your den of shame."

"You mean the nurse's office? No can do. It's being occupied by boys right now. You know how much I hate _boys_," said Shamal, and though he was speaking to Gokudera, his eyes were dancing all over Kyoko, who just walked past him in a glitzy, purple dress. "By the way, I thought you should know that there is a large price on your precious Sawada's head."

"What!" said Yamamoto.

Gokudera scowled heavily. "By who?"

Shamal shrugged. "Anonymous party."

"Don't bullshit me. It's never completely anonymous. You must have clues," said Gokudera.

Shamal laughed. "Alright, I can't say who, but it's definitely someone within the Vongola. Enrico was the favourite to become Decimo, but ever since he was shot in a feud last month, the others have been getting edgy. They probably want to get rid of the weakest rival first."

"Tsuna isn't weak," said Yamamoto.

"I never said he was. But he's played his act very well." Here, Shamal snuck a knowing grin at Gokudera. "So, you can consider this good luck or bad luck. If there's even a minor slip in his defense from now on, Sawada is going to die. But if he manages to survive it all and in return, eliminate his enemies, he will be able to make a name for himself in this early stage. However, at the rate he's going, he'll probably die from the first attack."

Gokudera began to growl. "I won't let that happen to him."

"Well, you're doing a poor job of it. Who do you think is recuperating in my office at this very second?"

Gokudera was out the door before Shamal even finished his sentence. Yamamoto was about to do the same when Shamal grabbed his hand. "I'm sorry, but you have to stay here. There are more important things for you to attend to right now."

"Tsuna's my friend. He's the reason I'm joining the Vongola in the first place. There's nothing more important than him," said Yamamoto.

"I admire your guts, kid. That will help you in the long run. But trust me. You want to stay here." Shamal cocked his head to the side. "Go ahead. Look out the window."

Confused, Yamamoto made his way to the classroom window. From his vantage point, he could see a long black limousine with tinted windows pull up in front of the school. An elderly man with snow white hair and a matching full mustache stepped out. He was immediately flanked by men in dark suits. One of them looked strangely familiar.

The elderly man smiled kindly and waved aside their attentions. He then walked into the school; his bodyguards never more than five paces behind him.

Shamal smiled. "That is _Don _Timoteo, the ninth bossof the Vongola."

* * *

Tsuna woke up staring at the bland ceiling of the nurse's office in school. He tried to sit up and got a searing headache for his troubles.

"Here." Sitting at the foot of his bed was Sasagawa Ryohei, extending a hand with two white paracetamol tablets in his upturned palm.

Tsuna thanked him softly and swallowed the pills. The headache subsided to a dull throb. It was uncomfortable but at least he could move his head without flinching. "What happened?"

"I was on my way to school when I saw these masked men beating you. One of them even had a gun on you. It's horrible to the extreme! So I beat them all. I beat them until they either fainted or ran extremely away. Then I brought you here. The school nurse said you must've passed out from blood loss. Your arm was pretty messed up when I found you."

Tsuna looked down at his wounded arm and saw that his stitches were back in and secured with bandages. "Onii-san..."

Ryohei raised an eyebrow. "Um, I'm not your brother, Sawada."

Tsuna tried to shake his head but the effort made him nauseous. "Sorry. It's just that in my head, I always referred to you as Kyoko-chan's onii-san."

"Oh, is that it? Then, you can go ahead and call me that if you want. I don't mind it to the extreme," said Ryohei with a sunny smile.

Tsuna gave a weak smile in return. "Onii-san, do you have any idea who those people you beat off are?"

Ryohei shook his head. "No clue. They looked really scary though."

Tsuna tried to refrain from looking at Ryohei in disbelief.

Then, Ryohei frowned and said, "What's going on, Sawada? Does someone have a grudge against you? Have you been mixing with a bad crowd?"

Tsuna laughed bitterly. "Like you wouldn't believe."

"What?"

"Nothing," said Tsuna. "I just-" -_can't believe you managed to beat off mafia assassins on your own_. "Thanks, onii-san, for saving my life. If you hadn't been there, who knows where I would've been." _Probably at the bottom of the Namimori bay, feeding the fishes._

"Don't worry about it. I was just doing what anyone else would do," said Ryohei.

"Anyone else would've run away. You're unbelievably strong, onii-san. I wish I were strong too," added Tsuna self-depreciatingly to reinforce his 'no good' image.

"But you are."

"Huh?"

"I think you're actually strong too. Like that day when you helped save Yamamoto. Or even that time when you agreed to be in charge of the cafe even though you obviously didn't want to. You took on that responsibility because you didn't want to let anyone down, right?" said Ryohei. Tsuna didn't answer. "It's not just that. Everyone calls you No Good Tsuna but you're never bothered by it. I think it takes an amazing sort of strength to be this confident about who you are. I like people like you, Sawada. You're awesome to the extreme," Ryohei ended with a wide grin.

Tsuna felt his entire body flush at the compliment. This was the first time anybody praised him this much since he pretended to be No Good. It felt incredible. He smiled shyly. "I wish I got to know you earlier, onii-san."

Ryohei beamed and rubbed his nose. "Don't mention it."

* * *

Yamamoto saw the contingent of men in black suits walking towards his classroom with Timoteo in the middle. While the old man didn't look embarrassed, he did look rather chagrined by his entourage. "Really, is all this security necessary, Iemitsu? I hardly think anyone would target my life in a Japanese school."

"You can never be too careful, Timoteo-sama, with the succession so near at hand. Besides, Japan is still a country free from us. We cannot know who has passed through these borders," said one of the men in suits. He stood out from the rest because his features were distinctly Japanese. Yamamoto couldn't help but feel that he has seen this man somewhere before.

A crew of his classmates went out to greet their 'new customers'. "Welcome to the mafia cafe! Would you like to take a seat?" said Misato, brushing her hands down her satiny red dress.

Timoteo looked at Iemitsu in bewilderment. "Mafia...cafe? I have never heard of such a thing. Is this a Japanese custom?"

Iemitsu laughed. "No, no, I supposed this is something the kids thought up."

Timoteo took in the dim lighting, the _Godfather _posters, and the single-stem roses on tables. Then, he picked up one of the submachine-water guns and raised an eyebrow at the cardboard cutouts of humans with a red bulls-eye painted on their chests. "Obviously they still think we live in the 50s," he said, laughing. "I haven't used one of these in ages!"

The students exchanged nervous and confused looks.

"Who was in charge of decorating this room?"

"Our friend. He came from Italy so he knows about these things," said Misato.

"I assume you're talking about Gokudera Hayato," said Timoteo.

Misato gaped. "You know Gokudera-kun, _ojii-san_?"

Timoteo's smile turned fond. "Yes. He's a good boy. Very devoted. Where is he, by the way? I was hoping to see him today."

"He rushed off to attend another matter. Sir," Yamamoto tacked on hastily.

Timoteo turned to consider Yamamoto with a reserved expression. "So you are Yamamoto Takeshi."

"Yes I am, sir. Would you like a seat?" Yamamoto led Timoteo and his men to the biggest table they have.

"That suit looks good on you."

"Thank you sir," said Yamamoto nervously.

One of the other men in suits bent down beside Timoteo and said, "_Don_, should we clear the people out of this room?"

Timoteo shook his head. "These people have all come to enjoy a meal and interact with friends. Why should we spoil their fun? They can become your witnesses, Yamamoto Takeshi."

"This is your last chance to change your mind," said Reborn. No one had seen him enter the classroom. Reborn lounged on the windowsill as he always did, green chameleon perched on a simple black fedora. He leapt off and pressed the back of Timoteo's veiny hand to his lips. "It has been some time, _Signore_."

The entire classroom fell silent as all eyes suddenly turned to Yamamoto and Timoteo. Nobody else knew what was going on. Nobody else was aware that they were being witness to Yamamoto's confirmation into a mafia family. In one corner, Kyoko whispered to her friend, "Is this an act no one told me about?"

"I will not change my mind," said Yamamoto. Then seeing the smirks on the men behind Timoteo, he became angry and said a little more forcefully. "_I won't!_"

Iemitsu laughed. "A little hot blood in him too!"

"Are you sure you are not Italian?" said Timoteo, eyes twinkling in humour. "Even if you want to serve my godson, you have to enter the family first. Meaning, you first pledge allegiance to me. So, do you ask for my 'friendship', Yamamoto Takeshi?"

Yamamoto swallowed. "I do."

"And do I have yours in return?"

"You do."

Timoteo smiled. "Yamamoto Takeshi, welcome to _la cosa nostra_."

Reborn slipped something into the front pocket of Yamamoto's coat. "A celebratory cigar," he said with a smirk.

The entire class, not knowing what had just taken place, began to clap. Timoteo laughed again. "Well, this is a proper confirmation indeed! Now that this is over with, I want to see your son, Iemitsu. Where is Tsuna?"

* * *

Tsuna jumped when the door of the nurse's office slammed open and Gokudera strode in, pale as death and yet white with fury. Tsuna has never seen his friend like that. Not even when he had been on the brink of death in Kokuyo.

Gokudera reached Tsuna's bedside and sank down onto his knees, surprising Ryohei out of his seat and seriously freaking Tsuna out. "I'm so sorry I let this happen to you, Tenth! Regardless of orders, I should've been at your side when you came to school. I would never have allowed you to get hurt! Do what you will to me. I accept any punishment."

"Gokudera-kun, it's okay," said Tsuna, patting his friend on the shoulder. "I'm alright. Onii-san saved me in time."

Gokudera lifted his head and leveled Ryohei with a steely stare. "So _you're_ the guy Mr. Reborn set up to protect the Tenth? Why didn't you save him before he got injured, you bastard?"

Ryohei blinked. "I have no idea what you're talking about to the extreme!"

"Wait, are you saying Reborn had something to do with this?" said Tsuna.

"He told me I didn't need to escort you to school today. He must've known you would be attacked," said Gokudera.

Outrage ripped through Tsuna in a hot flood. He understood at once what Reborn was trying to do. It wasn't enough that Reborn had practically manipulated Yamamoto into joining the mafia. He was trying to recruit Ryohei as well!

"Tenth, this will not be the last attempt on your life. A price has been put on your head. Please let me stay by your side at all times," said Gokudera.

"This is ridiculous. I'm not a criminal. There shouldn't be a price on my head at all. I won't stand for this," said Tsuna.

"I will kill all your attackers for you," promised Gokudera.

"No, no I don't need you to kill them."

"I will tear their limbs from their body with explosives and toss their parts off different bays so that no one will ever find them whole," said Gokudera.

"That's very generous of you, Gokudera-kun, but please don't do that."

"Then what would you like me to do?"

Tsuna's stomach chose that perfect moment to growl. He flushed red. "I can't help it. I didn't eat much breakfast today."

"Someone from the canteen brought this up when you were still unconscious, Sawada," said Ryohei. He retrieved a tray from Shamal's desk and put it on Tsuna's lap. "It's not hot anymore but it still looks tasty."

Tsuna learned then that Ryohei has a very skewed idea of what 'tasty' looked like. The bowl of rice was green; a colour rice should never be. The sausages were purple and have strange pustules on them. Plus, he could've sworn that the tentacles sticking out of his takoyaki were still writhing.

Gokudera promptly swept the tray of food off Tsuna's lap and onto the floor. Ryohei gave a loud cry. "Hey, don't waste food, octopus-head!" But even as he said that, the spilt food began to sizzle and made a sizable hole in the floor.

Tsuna blinked rapidly. "Um, what?"

Gokudera stood up. "Will you excuse me for a bit, Tenth? There is something I have to take care of." He made for the door. "I will bring you something to eat. Until then, don't accept any food from strangers. Especially food which looks strange."

"I don't need you to tell me that," muttered Tsuna. He watched Gokudera leave and frowned. There was something wrong with his friend today.

* * *

Gokudera searched the canteen high and low, but she wasn't there. Bianchi wasn't there.

The moment he saw the green rice, he knew that the poisoned food was her doing. The green super-acid rice was one of Bianchi's specialities growing up. She used to make them into small rice balls and served it to anyone who thought about betraying their father.

Gokudera 'made his bones' when he was 12, but Bianchi 'made' hers at 8.

Gokudera went out to search the food stalls decorating the welcoming strip on their school field. He looked through the takoyaki booth, the grilled squid booth, and the mochi-cum-dango booth, but Bianchi wasn't to be found anywhere.

He ran into Lambo, who was trying to find Tsuna, and directed him to the nurse's office. He ran into Dino, who asked him if he had missed Yamamoto's confirmation. Gokudera felt a little stung at that. To think that the baseball idiot received the courtesy of a formal confirmation when Gokudera himself has not. But he erased that quickly from his head. He has more important things to be concerned about at the moment.

He finally found Bianchi in the mafia cafe itself. After hearing that Tsuna was in the nurse's office, Kyoko planned on bringing some of their cafe's food down to him. Bianchi was in the middle of poisoning the food when Gokudera stepped in. "What do you think you're doing, _nee-san_?" he growled.

Bianchi straightened, violet hair flowing down her back, over luscious Italian curves and stopping on plump buttocks. Bianchi had grown a lot since Gokudera last seen her. She smiled at him. "It's been so long, Hayato. How are you doing?"

"Fucking brilliant," said Gokudera. His classmates gasped at his foul language but Gokudera could care less about them right now. He did a cautionary sweep of the classroom and noted that Yamamoto wasn't here. Neither was Shamal. "Step away from that food, _nee-san_."

"Sorry, I can't do that. I have to kill Sawada Tsunayoshi. Otherwise I don't get paid."

"I'm not letting you kill him."

"Why?"

"He's my boss."

Bianchi lifted an unimpressed eyebrow. "That's not possible. He's not a _caporegime_, or the protege of one. He's not even a _soldato_. He has no legitimate regime. He has no right nor qualification to claim you as a subordinate."

Gokudera felt a headache coming on at hearing all the antiquated terms of the mafia hierarchy he had left behind in Sicily. This was one of the reasons why he left his family. Because as the youngest son and an illegitimate child, his father's advisors convinced him that he would never amount to anything within his own family. But things were different now.

He belonged to a family. Tsuna's family.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi will become the tenth Vongola boss," said Gokudera.

"Really? _Signore _Baffi doesn't think so," said Bianchi with a cruel twist to her lips.

Gokudera stared. "Baffi? _Signore _Timoteo's brother-in-law?"

Bianchi covered her mouth. "Oh dear, I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. Well, Baffi can cover his own mess. My job is merely to eliminate this Japanese boy."

"Like I said, I won't let you." Gokudera prepared several sticks of dynamite in his hands. "I will stop you by any means necessary."

"Our relationship is already quite strained, Hayato. Threatening me isn't helping that."

"Like I care," spat Gokudera.

Bianchi turned red. "Do you really hate me so much?" Gokudera didn't answer. "If you already hate me, then there's nothing I can do," said Bianchi. She put the finishing touches onto the dish and sent it to Kyoko, who just returned from the bathroom and knew nothing of what transpired between Gokudera and Bianchi.

"Stop!" yelled Gokudera but Kyoko was already out the door. Gokudera ran out after her. He could catch her if he sprinted. But Bianchi grabbed the back of his coat. Gokudera snarled. He shrugged off his coat and continued his chase.

"Oh no you don't," said Bianchi. She took out a dish of steaming noodles from behind her back and threw it at Gokudera.

Gokudera missed it by a mere inch and winced when the noodles ate a hole through the wall. He whipped around and threw several sticks of dynamite. The dynamite exploded and brought the walls crumbling down.

Thanks to her quick reflexes, Bianchi managed to dodge the falling debris and slip through before the rubble completely obstructed the corridor.

Gokudera cursed loudly and evaded several cake grenades. In turn, he fired several shots at her with his handgun.

Whilst chasing after Kyoko, he passed Hibari Kyoya who fixed him with a cold glare. "Were you the one who destroyed the corridor?"

"I've got no time to deal with you!" shrieked Gokudera.

Hibari scowled at him. "I'll bite you to death for that." But he couldn't carry out his threat immediately because Bianchi was already closing in on Gokudera with a large bowl of miso soup in each hand.

There was not enough room in the corridor to avoid that much soup. Gokudera knew that as long as he didn't try to stop Kyoko from delivering the food, Bianchi wouldn't throw the soup at him. But there was no way Gokudera was going to allow that.

He tackled Kyoko round the middle, eliciting a frightened yelp from the poor girl, and smacked the tray of food onto the ground. All of Bianchi's hard work, the precious poisons she had worked into the omelette and the rice and the cake, lay ruined and wasted on the floor.

Gokudera shoved Kyoko out of the way just as the bowls of soup came flying. To his credit, Gokudera managed to avoid most of it. But a large dose of it splashed onto his right leg. The acid worked fast. Gokudera could've sworn he heard his own flesh sizzle.

He screamed.

Scorching pain shot up his leg and nothing he did could stop it. This was worse than the time someone had stabbed him in the thigh and twisted. Gokudera thought that stabbing would be the most painful experience in his life. He supposed it was poetic that this injury dealt to him by his older sister would hurt far, far worse.

At some point, the pain ate away at his consciousness. A part of him felt relieved. Once he fainted, he would feel no more pain. He lowered his head and waited.

He saw violet hair. His sister was standing over him.

"Why sacrifice yourself for him, Hayato? Why to this extent?" Bianchi's voice was fuzzy. Gokudera couldn't even be sure than he heard her correctly. He felt a soft hand brush his sweaty bangs away from his face. That touch was so reminiscent of his mother's. Gokudera closed his eyes.

"Because, I love him."

* * *

Tsuna smiled sardonically at them all. At Dino, Reborn, Shamal, his father and especially, at Timoteo, for although he loved the old man, he was the one who got him into all this trouble. "This was what you wanted for me, wasn't it?" he said from the sickbed.

He had dismissed Ryohei as soon as Timoteo,and his entourage of bodyguards entered. Namimori Jr. High has probably never seen a sight stranger than some of the most powerful men in the _cosa nostra _congregating in the nurse's office. "This morning, I really thought I was going to die. Like a dog in the street. Just a bullet to my forehead," said Tsuna.

Standing next to Dino, Yamamoto fidgeted, feeling slightly ill at ease and knowing that he was missing something important. Lambo placed a comforting hand on his arm and smiled.

"Yes, the life of a _mafiosi_ is fraught with danger. But I wasn't planning on the detriment of your life, merely the safety of my family," said Timoteo.

"Why can't you just choose one of your sons and be done with it? You have three good sons who are loyal and have learned from you all these years," said Tsuna.

"I now have two good sons," said Timoteo. "Enrico died last month."

Tsuna looked down at his lap. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Iemitsu stepped. "Just because you're frustrated, don't take it out on Timoteo, son."

Tsuna looked at his father but didn't dignify his chastise with a response. Instead, he turned to TImoteo. "I'm glad that to finally meet you again, Timoteo-_jiichan_. I really am. But why do you insist on imposing this on me against my wishes? You even officiated a good friend of mine into the family, knowing full well that I disapproved of it. Why even appoint me as successor when my words have no effect?"

"It's not up for you to decide how a man lives his life, Tsunayoshi," said Timoteo sternly. "Yamamoto chose to join the _famiglia_ out of his own volition."

"And I choose to quit it. So can I be excluded from the succession now?"

But any answer from Timoteo was cut off by Kyoko running into the nurse's office. "Tsuna-kun, Gokudera - he - Gokudera's in trouble!" she panted. "He was being chased by this lady with food and he fell and -"

Reborn frowned. "I received no word of Bianchi coming to _Giaponne_."

"Where is he?" said Tsuna.

"The third-floor corridor, near the stairs," said Kyoko.

Tsuna whipped off his covers and ran out the door before anyone could stop him. If he turned to look behind him, he would've seen Yamamoto close at his heels, worry digging deep lines into his face. But Tsuna has no mind for anyone else now. As he leapt the stairs, three-by-three, he kept praying that he wouldn't be too late; that everything would be okay; that for once in his life, things would go his way.

* * *

They were in Sicily. The old town. Gokudera's birthplace.

There was tea and wine on the table. No matter how much Gokudera tried persuading him, Tsuna would not try the wine. He would laugh and say that he never had any taste for alcohol.

Despite the blazing sun, Tsuna was wearing a prim, dark suit that made his light colouring even more pronounced. He looked very regal in the suit, especially with the Vongola emblem stamped on his left breast. Tsuna unbuttoned his collar and exhaled. "It a bit warm today, isn't it, Gokudera-kun?" he said.

They sipped at their drinks and talked about nothing. No matter how many cups of the chilled white wine Gokudera threw back, he didn't feel heady at all. Perhaps this was the light stuff. He would go down into the cellar later and find some brandy. He couldn't enjoy an afternoon like this without getting sloshed.

The sweet smell of begonias wandered over from the hedge. A young girl on a red bicycle rode past. Her long black pigtails fluttered in the wind behind her. Echoes of her laughter remained long after she disappeared down the hill. Several minutes after, a beautiful lady with long, hair and skin far too fair under this sun walked by, apparently looking for the girl. She turned, saw Gokudera and Tsuna on the terrace, and smiled at them.

To be honest, all this felt like a memory to him. Some grainy memory from his past he'd left to rot ages ago.

The sun shone golden.

Gokudera choked on his drink at the unexpected touch on his hand.

"Is there something wrong, Gokudera-kun?" said Tsuna, concern written all over his face.

"No, not at all."

Tsuna grinned at him. "I'm glad."

Gokudera supposed that was when he realised that this was all a dream. Because Tsuna has never grinned at him like that.

This villa in Sicily, his childhood friend on a bicycle, the lady who looked too much like his mother and this Tsuna; they were probably just fragments of wishful thinking. But how beautiful they all looked. Gokudera smiled and leaned back in his seat.

He wished he never has to wake up.

* * *

The nights were cold in Namimori, especially with winter approaching. Outside the hotel Timoteo resided in Japan, Reborn lit a cigarette and looked up to the stars. He knew immediately when someone tried to approach him from the shadows. He didn't bother turning his head. "You managed to hide your coming here from me. I'm impressed."

"Are you now?" said Bianchi as she slid next to Reborn. "Since you're not easily impressed, I take that as a high compliment." Then, after a moment or two of kicking some early snow, she asked, "How is he doing?"

Reborn tapped his cigarette and watched as the ash fell onto the gravel next to his feet. "Coma," he said. "The pain of the acid caused his body to seize and then go into shock." He turned to observe Bianchi's expression. "It was a choice. Why did you attack Gokudera?"

"It's just business."

"That's the oldest line in the book. We do off family members only when they betray us. Did Gokudera betray you?"

Bianchi gave him a bitter smile. "You're the last person I want talking to me about betrayal, Reborn. I regretted falling in love with you with every breath that I take. In fact, the only thing I regret more than starting a relationship with you is abandoning Hayato." Reborn looked at her with muted surprise; a silent encouragement to continue.

"I begged my father to let me go after him when he defected from the family. But my father insisted that we let Hayato make his own way in the world. As a daughter, I had to agree with him. But my relationship with Hayato has always been bad, and it hurt me," said Bianchi. "Earlier today, I learned that Hayato hated me, and I got angry. When he sacrificed his life for some no-name kid he's only known for a few months, I got angrier."

"Didn't you wonder why your brother is so devoted to Tsuna?" said Reborn.

"I still am."

"Your brother isn't just someone who isn't afraid to die. He'd the type of person who's waiting for someone to kill him. When he fought at Kokuyo, Gokudera nearly did die, but Tsuna saved him. With the life he's lived up till now, Gokudera must think that no one would care enough to want him alive. Tsuna is proof that someone does."

Bianchi scoffed. "You're saying that this Sawada gave Hayato hope for life? He gave him a reason for living?" she said, voice full of sarcasm.

Reborn gave her a humourless smirk. "You know, Tsuna hasn't left Gokudera's side in the hospital. Not at all."

Bianchi glared at Reborn. For a moment, Reborn thought she was going to cry or do something stupid women usually did. But the Poison Scorpion was stronger than that. She turned and slunk back into the shadows, leaving nothing but the smell of her perfume.

Reborn fixed the cigarette back between his lips and inhaled.

* * *

Two days after the Namimori Jr. High cultural festival, _Signore_ Emilio Baffi, Timoteo's brother-in-law and godfather to his youngest son, Frederico, died while eating his dinner. He was shot with two bullets to his chest. He fell face first into his pasta.

Frederico was spared because he was Timoteo's son. But he was exiled to America for participating in a plan to kill Tsuna.

With that, everyone thought the entire matter was settled. No one had any idea that Baffi had another co-conspirator called Xanxus.

* * *

TBC...


End file.

Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, Adventure